Dangerous Game
by Anrixan
Summary: COMPLETE! What do you do when you're the pawn in someone else's game?
1. Pretty in Pink, With a Dash Of Red

**I actually didn't intend to write any stories that contain sequels, but as I started to write this one, I started mentioning a lot of stuff from Doppelganger. Whoops. When you think about it, This Is My Story, Doppelganger, and this one kind of make up a trilogy. I didn't even do that on purpose...and I'm not sure if I'm going to make it that way! Lol. However, this is the sequel to Doppelganger...Only this is in Tidus' POV. (If you didn't read Doppelganger, you really don't have to. There isn't a CRUCIAL connection between the two fics) I'm not sure how this fic is goign to end up, so I'm kinda writing it blindly. I've just had the idea in my head for a while, so I'm obeying the muse. The first chapter is more or less introduction...I hope you like it so far...**

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**1. Pretty in Pink, With a Dash Of Red**

I almost had to shudder as I looked around the backyard. There were balloons, streamers, decorations, stuffed animals, a swing set, a tiny baby pool…and everything was pink. Even the tablecloths and the cake were pink! I mean, I guess it makes sense knowing that it was my only daughter's first birthday, but there was just so much pink that I thought I was going to nuts. I put my hand against my forehead and shook my head as I looked over at my beautiful wife, who was bending over the playpen, adding pink ribbons to our daughter's hair. Not that she had a lot of it, but there was enough to put the blonde, wispy hair into a single ponytail at the top of her head.

"Yuna, you don't think you went a little overboard?" I asked as I walked over to where the playpen was set up. "It's not like I have a problem with the color or anything, but there is just so much pink staring me in the face that I'm going to have pink nightmares until she turns 18."

She giggled as she picked up the baby and had a good look around. I gave her a playful glare when I realized that even the baby's dress was a light shade of pink. "Okay, okay, I went a little crazy, I'll admit it, but Ariana only turns one once! You have to agree that it does look very festive."

"Yeah, festive and _pink_," I added as I gave Yuna a small peck on the cheek. "You couldn't have added a little white or purple to balance out all the pink? Like say, white balloons or light purple streamers mixed in with the pink ones? I'm glad that I'm wearing blue, you know, so I can have some of my masculine pride."

"Whatever makes you happy, Tidus." She handed little Ari to me as she rushed over to the table, where some of the cups were tumbling over from the gentle wind. "I wish everyone would get here soon so we could get this party started!"

"Well, the last time I checked, Wakka, Lulu and their two kids were coming over at one." I looked over Ari's leg to see my watch. "It's about ten till right now, so they should be over any minute."

"Everyone else said that they would show up around one as well." She exhaled to calm herself down and smoothed her shirt against her body. "Why am I so nervous!"

I shrugged and walked closer to her. (Oh yeah, did I mention that she was wearing a pink skirt? At least her shirt was white!) "I have no idea, but you don't have a reason to be. It's not like these are going to be people that you've never met before! It's just a few of our closest friends getting together again."

"Yeah, I know," she said, fixing several of the decorations. They were already in fine condition, but she was just working out her nerves. "It's just that I haven't seen them all since the treaty signing, and that was the same day that Ari was born."

I was just about to speak before I heard a shrill baby cry. Instinctively, Yuna and I looked down at Ari, but she innocently had her fingers in her mouth as she looked in the direction of the sound as well. We should've known that it wasn't her cry to begin with, for this was a tiny baby cry, meaning one thing.

"Lulu!" Yuna cried as she ran over to the older woman and carefully hugged her, trying not to squish the tiny baby that was in her hands. She cooed as she gently kissed the screaming baby on the top of her head to calm her down. "Oooh! Lily, you're getting to be so big!"

"Hi to you too, Yuna," Wakka said quietly so he wouldn't wake Vidina, who was sleeping in his arms. I'm not exactly sure why he lowered his voice. If screaming Lily didn't wake up Vidina, Wakka's voice certainly wouldn't have done the job.

"Sorry, Wakka," Yuna apologized as she hugged Wakka quickly before adverting her attention back to the small bundle.

I shook my head as I walked over to shake Wakka's hand, but one arm contained Vidina, who had his head rested on Wakka's shoulder as he slept, and the other contained several pink presents. "Okay, how can I do this…"

"Take the presents first, ya?" I laughed at Wakka as I took the packages out of his hand and put them on the table so I could properly shake his hand. He looked at Ari and gently pinched her cheek. She took her fingers out of her mouth, grimaced, then grabbed my shirt with her tiny wet fingers. "So, she's one already, ya?"

"I can't believe it. It seems like only yesterday Yuna and I were bringing her out of the hospital. I really don't feel old enough to have a one year old," I replied honestly as I brought her higher on my side. It was true. I was only 21 years old, and knowing I was nonexistent for two years, I still felt 19. "Look at you though; you're a father of two."

"Ya, tell me about it," Wakka said, almost in disbelief as he watched Lulu expertly calm down Lily. "As great as it is having two kids, it's been three years since I've had a decent night of sleep."

I nodded in agreement as I leaned in closer to speak so no one else could hear me. "Yeah, It's been about a year for me and I know what you mean. The days where you are awake, you don't get any sleep anyway because you're in the mood to—"

"Tidus!" Yuna shrieked when she somehow managed to hear my sentence. I was speaking quietly and I thought she was paying attention to Lily, so I have no idea how she heard me. "As much as Lulu and Wakka want to hear about our sex life, I don't think we should be exposing this information to the tiny ears that are present!"

"Don't worry, Yuna, they won't remember," Wakka said as Lulu shot him a glare. "What?"

"Never mind," Lulu murmured with a sigh as Lily let out a hiccup. "Oh my. She cries and then she hiccups. Maybe I should heat up a bottle for her."

"I'll get some juice for Ari while we're inside," Yuna stated as she motioned me to give up Ari. When she had the baby, she turned on her heal and walked toward the back door. "Greet everyone who comes!"

"No, Yuna, I'm going to tell them to fork over the presents then leave." She playfully scoffed at me as she opened the door and walked inside. I knew she knew I was kidding, so it wasn't a big deal. I turned back toward Wakka and saw that Vidina was starting to wake up. "Hey, buddy!"

"Hi," he replied shyly as he squirmed out of his father's grasp. He looked around for a second and when he saw Lulu in the house, he quickly flung open the door and ran to her.

"He's still in the shy stage?" I asked as Wakka widened his eyes and vehemently nodded. "Aww."

As if on cue, I heard a very high pitched squeal, and this time it wasn't from a baby. This time it was from a 19 year old girl who was standing about twenty feet away from me. Yeah, a perfect example of someone who _isn't_ shy…

Wakka didn't have to turn around as he said, "hi, Rikku." If there was one thing extremely recognizable from Rikku, it was definitely her shrieks and squeals. Maybe it was the fact that she did them so often…Hmm. It could be.

"Hiya!" She exclaimed as she carefully walked over to where Wakka and I were standing. She had about ten presents in her arms, so I have no idea how she was able to see over them as she walked. If it were me, I would've fallen on my face.

"Wow, Rikku, you look…pink," I said as I looked at the ecstatic blonde. She had on a dress, shoes, necklace, earrings, ribbon in her hair, and even the presents that she had in her hand—and they were all pink. As I looked closer, I realized that the eye shadow she was wearing was also the same shade of pink. She unquestionably was color coordinated to an extreme level. "You match the decorations."

"It's because I'm happy that the baby is a girl and I'm just getting into the spirit!" She curtsied the best she could as she frantically looked around the backyard. "Where is the baby anyway! Auntie Rikku is here to spoil her like she promised!"

"She's inside with—" Before I was able to finish my sentence, she squealed, threw the presents into my hands, and ran inside to the kitchen. I chuckled as I stole a glance toward Gippal, who only shrugged and followed his girlfriend.

"And to think I almost forgot how excited she was that Yuna had a girl," I quipped as I looked over at Wakka, who was pouring himself some lemonade—which was also pink.

"How could anyone forget the way she was at the hospital last year?" Wakka asked as he took a sip from the glass. "I'm just surprised she hasn't complained that Vidina is a boy, ya know?"

"I think the fact that Lulu had Lily made up for it," I mentioned as I looked over at the small baby in Lulu's arms. Lily was only a few months old, and I have no idea how Wakka and Lulu managed to take care of an infant and a three year old at the same time. "Yikes, I hate to think what will happen if Rikku ever has a boy."

"I hate to think of what would happen if she would have kids." I whipped my head over to the owner of the voice. It was Paine, but then again I shouldn't known it was by the smart ass comment. "They are going to be psychotic. Oh, and if Gippal is the father? Dear Yevon. "

I laughed as I shook Baralai's hand. "Yeah, I know for a fact that I never want to babysit them."

"Yuna will though," Baralai stated as he put his arm around Paine. "So I guess you're stuck with them anyway."

"Paine! Baralai!" Yuna ran outside again so she could greet them, handing me the baby before she could hug them. "Oh, Paine, come inside."

"Okay…" Yuna grabbed Paine's wrist, not giving her a choice. Baralai looked at me and smiled.

"So how are things running in Bevelle, Baralai?" I asked as Yuna took the Ari again before she and Paine walked over to where the other women were. I looked at my empty hands then shrugged as I poured Baralai and myself glasses of lemonade.

"Things have been okay," he started as he took the glass and furrowed his forehead slightly. "There have just been some rumors flying around lately, but we've pretty much shrugged them off and ignored them."

"Rumors?" I asked as Yuna walked back over to me.

"Here, honey, can you hold her for a second? I just came to the realization that everyone is here, so I need to go get the matches and stuff so we can light the candle." I nodded as I took Ari in my hands and motioned for Baralai to continue. Yuna and I had been playing Pass the Baby since the party started and I was worried we were going to give poor Ariana whiplash from being handed off so quickly. She got halfway to the door before realizing that the had the bottle in her hands still, so she turned back toward me and thrust it in my free hand. Ari reached for it, so I let her hold it with her own hands.

"Oh, you know, the usual threats toward anyone who has high ranking in Bevelle or people who are still partial believers in Yevon." Now it was my turn to furrow my forehead and run my fingers through my hair. Ari let out a giggle and threw the bottle onto the ground, so I bent over to pick it up, still listening to Baralai's every word. "Oh, it's nothing to be worried about, of course. We've been getting threats for years and it's nothing new."

That wasn't consoling to me, but I wasn't about ready to argue with Baralai, especially when it came to his safety. I'm sure Paine already was on his ass about it, so if I mentioned it, it would just make situations worse. The only thing that really concerned me was the fact that Yuna had been receiving warnings on her as well and she's been rolling it off her shoulders as if it were nothing. I looked down at Ari, who had managed to rip the ribbon out of her hair and was putting it in her mouth.

"No, no, no," I said as I grabbed it away from her. She protested, but instantly became more interested in the edge of her dress and promptly put that in her mouth. I let her be, for I knew that she wouldn't be able to swallow the entire dress.

"Something bothering you?" I looked up at Baralai to see that he knew that I was thinking something.

"Is it that obvious?" I asked with a nervous chuckle as Baralai nodded. "No, I'm fine. I'm just worried now, that's all."

"Like I said, there's no reason to be worried." He seemed nonchalant about the entire thing and I wished that would've calmed me down, but it didn't. "No physical attacks have been acted out or anything, so we're fine. Seriously, Tidus, nothing has happened. Not even any petty attacks like slashing hover tires. Verbal threats mean nothing in Spira."

"You're right," I pretended to agree with a shrug. Key word: Pretended. "Verbal threats are usually made by people who have nothing better to do with their lives then cause worry for innocent people."

I stopped talking when I felt someone tapping on my shoulder. I turned around to see Rikku standing there with a huge smile on her face, bouncing on her toes as she reached out for the baby. "Daddy Tidus, can I hold the baby?"

"Uh, yeah, sure." With one of her famous squeals, she practically ripped the baby out of my hands as she ran over to where Lulu was sitting with Lily, practically running over Paine in the process. I didn't even realize that the women all walked back outside. Well, with the exception of my wife, of course. I could hear her opening and shutting drawers in the kitchen.

"Is it just me, or does she make anyone else extremely exhausted?" Paine chuckled at herself as Baralai and I nodded.

Yuna emerged from the house with a knife and set of matches in her hands and I had to smile at her. She was so excited that she didn't realize that she was zipping around like a squatter monkey. "Well, what do you think? Should we sing to her now? I made the cake and I'm kind of anxious to try it knowing I made a huge mess of the kitchen as I mixed everything. I've never made a cake before, but I followed the instructions. I hope it's not too horrible."

"I'm sure it's awesome, Yunie!" Rikku exclaimed as she bounced the baby on her lap. "I'm not sure if I can say the same thing about your singing skills though."

"I was Lenne for a while, so maybe I picked up a thing or two from her," she said as she handed me the matches so I could light the single candle (pink, of course) that was on the cake. When it was lit, Yuna clapped her hands and motioned Rikku to give me the baby. I'm sure she would've held the baby herself if she wasn't holding a knife, so I put my hands out.

"Aww, no fair," Rikku mumbled in disappointment as she reluctantly handed the baby back over to me. "I get her right after the cake though! Wait, no…I get to feed the cake to her!"

"Ha! Sure, Rikku. I'll let you feed her the cake, but you have to agree to spend the time scrubbing cake and icing off of her dress and out of her hair," Yuna pointed out as Rikku made a face. "That's what I thought."

"Daddy, daddy, I can't see!" I looked over the table to see Vidina pulling on Wakka's pants. Wakka got the hint and lifted Vidina up so he would be able to get a good view of the cake.

"Maybe we should sing before the candle drips wax all over the cake," Paine suggested as we all nodded.

As we started to sing "Happy Birthday," Ari started to squeal with delight and reached for the fire from the candle. I held her out of distance, but I was so distracted by holding her back that I wasn't able to sing. Halfway through the song, a loud sound was heard, and before I was able to look up from the baby to see what it was from, Rikku covered her mouth and let out a blood curdling scream.

I looked at where everyone was looking in shock and almost dropped Ariana at the sight. Yuna grabbed at her midsection, blinked several times before her eyes rolled to the back of her head, then fell on the ground; her skirt quickly saturating with blood from the gunshot wound.


	2. Bringing Up False Hope

**Thanks for the reviews, you guys! There are a few mentionings of things that happened in This Is My Story and Doppelganger in this chapter, but again, nothing extremely important. If Tidus says something that makes you say, "huh?" Smile, nod, and ignore it lol. It's not crucial. Oh, so I wrote the final chapter and part of the epilogue of this fic today...mainly because I needed to get someamusing Tidus-y lines typed up before I forgot them. It's amusing to write the final chapter before you solidify the plot...you get to make up things that happen in the middle of the fic! Lol! At least I have somewhere to go with this fic now...and I know how it ends. YAY! By the way, the chapters in this fic are going to shorter than the ones in RR (if you've been reading that, you'd know what I mean). Okay, I'm going to bed now because I am so tired! Bye!**

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**2. Bringing Up False Hope**

"I can't believe I passed out," Yuna said in disbelief as she peeled away the thin white sheet that was covering her and inspected the heavily bandaged part of her stomach. "I feel like such a baby."

"Ah yes, because I want a girl who can play an entire blitzball tournament after being shot in the stomach," I joked with a short ironic laugh and traced my finger down the side of her face. "Yuna, you're fortunate that none of your vitals were punctured. You could've been severely hurt and possibly even killed."

"Yay for being alive," she replied cheerfully as she crossed her ankles, grimacing with the pain of moving. "But, since I am alive and awake, I think this means that they should release me and we should all go home now. I definitely don't want to spend my daughter's first birthday in the hospital. You know, she wasn't even able to open her presents!"

"Yuna…" Although I knew that Yuna wasn't one to be cooped up in a hospital, there wasn't a chance in hell that I was going to let her get out. With some coaxing to everyone else, I was finally able to get them to go out in the lobby to watch Ariana so I have some alone time with my wife. "I don't think you realize just how serious this is."

She crossed her arms and scoffed, proving to me that she didn't want to be lectured. "No, I just think you're overreacting. Tidus, I'm the high summoner, okay? It's probably just some Yevon lover who wonders why I'm not preaching like the past high summoners."

"Yuna, you're the only high summoner that has ever lived," I reminded her as I stopped pacing and faced her. She was looking to her left with her nose in the air, but I wasn't going to give her any mercy. "All the other high summoners died to defeat Sin. Well, temporarily defeat Sin, anyway. You were the only one who was able to rid Spira of their major threat, so you should be able to live your life the way you want."

"It was probably just an accident anyway." I couldn't believe that she was acting so blasé about being shot, so my jaw dropped. "Don't give me that look."

"Accident?" I repeated and threw my hands up in the air. "You think this was just an accident? Yeah, that makes sense, because people go on shooting sprees randomly, shoot only one person, then run away before they're caught."

"Okay fine, if it _was_ on purpose, they obviously had terrible aim." She raised her voice as she pointed to the bandages again. "If this person was a serious killer, they would obviously know that my heart isn't in my stomach! It was probably an amateur with a grudge."

"Amateur or not, they shot you, and I have a tiny problem with that. I don't want to take any chances, Yuna," I stated firmly. I walked to the side of her bed and she looked away from me. "Yuna, please look at me."

"No! Not until you chill!" Even though she said she wouldn't look at me, she still did, and I could see the tears brimming in her eyes. "I'm fine, okay? Look, I'm still breathing, still moving, and most importantly, I'm still alive."

She wiggled her fingers in my face to prove her point, but I still wasn't calm enough to sit and let this slide by. "You're alive now, but as far as I'm concerned, you're damn lucky. Next time you might not be."

"Next time?" She asked with a scoff and a laugh. It was a scared laugh, so she wasn't fooling me with her calm attitude. "Who says there's even going to _be_ a next time?"

"Me!" Her eyes opened wide and I honestly think I frightened her more than I meant to. "If there was a first attack, I bet you a thousand gil that there will be a second! If they don't succeed the second time, they will try again and again. I don't know what the hell they have against you, but I know they won't stop until their goal is complete."

"What makes you think that?" She shot back and sat straight up in her bed, pain running through her as she stretched the wound. "Ow."

"And you want to come home?" I asked her in reference of the pain, slightly sarcastic as I crossed my arms against my chest. "I know you. If they send you home and tell you to rest, you won't. You'll be busy running around. I felt as if I was pulling teeth to get you to rest when you were pregnant."

She shook her head at me and sighed. "I heal fast. Besides, it's only a scratch."

"That's a nice cliché, but it's not going to work on me," I stated, cracking my knuckles as I spoke. "They had to surgically dig a bullet out of you, Yuna. That's not a scratch."

"Whatever," she scoffed and shook her head. "I think this'll just blow over anyway."

"No, no," I reiterated sternly. "I almost feel as if we've been ignoring warnings that have been obvious for the last couple of weeks."

"What are you talking about?"

"All those letters you've been receiving, Yuna? Who are they from?" She gasped at my words and I knew she felt guilty. For last few weeks, mysterious letters have been appearing at our front porch and I tried not to worry about it, but curiosity always managed to get the best of me. "Don't think I haven't seen you read them."

She scoffed at me and the look on her face stung deep in my heart for I know she was disappointed in me. "I threw them all out, so unless you've been snooping through my mail, how would you know about them?"

"Why wouldn't I want to know what was said in them?" I challenged back as she reached over to grab her glass of water that was on the bedside table. She had difficulty reaching it due to the wound in her stomach, so I walked around and grabbed it for her. Before handing it to her, I held it up and talked, moving the glass for emphasis. "I've seen the look on your face when you've received them, and obviously they didn't say that you won an all expense paid trip to Zanarkand for a week. Therefore, I read them after you threw them out. You should be thanking me that I didn't call Bevelle up right away because that was my first intention."

"What would Bevelle do in this case? They don't care about me," she replied as she ripped the glass out of my hand. "With the exception of Baralai, they're all too busy trying to get the ways of Yevon back throughout the people. Believe me, I know."

"That's what the treaty banned though," I murmured as I slowly stood up. "The Youth League, New Yevon, and Machine Faction created that treaty so everyone would band together and not cause stupid outrages over beliefs and tradition."

She sighed again as she took a sip of the water. "Tidus, come on."

"No, I'm really curious about what you mean now." I backed up and sat in the seat that was behind me, for I feared I would be the one who would pass out. "Why would they want the ways of Yevon taught again? Didn't they learn that Yevon's teachings were full of false hope?"

"Yevon was something to believe in," she started to explain, without looking at me. As a matter of fact, she was speaking in such a hushed whisper that I had to strain my ears to understand what she was saying. "When the people of Spira had Yevon to believe in, they had a reason to live. Yunalesca even told us this before we killed her. That's what the false hope was about. Sure, most people understand that Yevon was destroyed so they got over it, but there is a handful of people who still strongly believe in Yevon and will do anything they can to get other people to believe the same way."

"Yu Yevon was a spider looking creature who we killed," I pointed out, trying to bring some humor into the situation. "How credible can a spider be? I squish them with my shoes all the time."

"You're trying to lighten the mood, Tidus, and it's not going to work," she warned as she finally looked at me. Her eyes were cold and her face was grim; she was right. This wasn't something to be joking around about. "Some of the letters that I've been sent lately I've kept. They're in a drawer in the house."

"Where?" I asked as I stood up and almost bolted for the door.

"Get me out of here and I'll show you."

I scoffed at her ultimatum and pointed at her. "No, you are going to stay right here. You're safe in this hospital and I don't want you in any risk of danger."

"I'm fine, Tidus!" She protested as I walked closer to her again.

"Ariana is out there waiting for you to be better and will pounce on you the second that you walk out of this room. Are you ready for that?" She nodded her head confidently, so I cocked my head and glared at her. "No, you're not. You wouldn't be able to pick her up and hold her, and you know damn well that's what she'll want. Stay here, Yuna. You can't always be the one to save Spira."

"Who said that Spira was in danger in the first place?" I stopped walking and clenched my fists in anger. "All I said was that I've kept some letters from a few monks and they're in a drawer. I didn't even have to tell you what drawer I meant and you're already halfway out the door."

"I'm just trying to put some pieces together," I explained gently with a sigh. She looked down at her nails, so I walked over to her and took one of her hands in my own. "Yuna, seeing you get shot was perhaps the most terrifying thing I've ever seen. Well, that and seeing you possessed by Lenne. That's pretty high up there as well."

"But, Tidus, I'm fine," she tried to reassure me again, but I wasn't going to fall for it. I knew the second that she would try to stand up, she would collapse right on the floor. "I'll be just as safe at home as I would be in this hospital. The only difference is that I would be a lot more comfy at home."

"Honey," I started and kissed her hand. "I want this person stopped. Hell, there might be more than one person. Unfortunately, we weren't able to get a good look in the direction that the gun was fired from. Think about this rationally; if you are at home and they attack again, you're putting Ari in danger. She'll want to be around you nonstop and that'll put her right in the line of fire. Do you want that?"

I could tell my words hit her hard, for her eyes opened wide then she looked down and shook her head. "No."

"No," I repeated as I kissed her hand again. "Therefore, please stay here and let me do a little reconnaissance. That way I'll be reassured that you're all safe and sound."

"And going insane by staring at the blank white walls and not being able to do anything," she drawled, using her hand to gesture her surroundings. "Fine. I'll be the good girl and stay here. Just…keep in touch, okay?"

"Of course. I'll come back tomorrow to let you know if I've found out anything." I kissed her gently on the forehead and smiled at her. "I love you, Yuna."

"I love you too," she replied with a nervous smile. "Please be careful. I don't know what I would do without you."

"You know me." I smirked at her as I made my way out of her hospital room and walked to the lobby. Everyone stood up when the saw me, with the exception of Lulu who had Vidina sprawled out on her lap. I don't understand how that boy could physically sleep as much as he did. I looked over at Ari, who was playing with a few toys on the floor by Rikku's feet. I smiled at her as she banged a toy against the ground. I'm surprised that she didn't break it with the force she was using.

"How is she?" Rikku asked, rubbing her arms up and down with her hands. It was rather chilly in the waiting room, and she was still wearing her little spring dress, so it was only natural for her to be a little cold.

A feeling of déjà vu swept through me as I looked around. It was exactly how it was a year ago when Yuna had Ari. Everyone standing around and throwing a million questions at me…and of course, Rikku insisting that the baby was a girl.

"She'll be fine," I said quickly as I looked over at Baralai. He was looking down at the ground, making me rather suspicious. I scratched the back of my head as Ari crawled from where she was playing over to me. I picked her up without taking my eyes off of the young Praetor. "Baralai, I need to speak to you later."

He looked up at me and nodded his head, as if he knew what I was even going to ask him. Paine narrowed her eyes first at Baralai, then at myself, trying to read the looks on our faces. "What's going on, you two?"

"I'm not sure yet," I responded as I continued to study everyone. "All right, here's the thing. The nurses and doctors want to make sure that she's going to be fine, so they want to keep her at least overnight. It's a good thing, too, or else she would be jumping around to find out what is going on."

"I don't think she would," Lulu said calmly as she stood up carefully so she wouldn't wake up her son. "She doesn't seem too concerned, Tidus."

"The fact that I'm concerned is enough of a reason to get her to worry," I pointed out with a sigh. "We might as well go back to our house. I mean, we have plenty of refreshments and whatnot if you all want to stay."

"Well, I have to be putting Lily and Vidina to sleep soon," Lulu explained and Wakka nodded in agreement. "I really don't want them being up too late tonight because they both took short naps today and I don't want to deal with two cranky children in the morning."

"Okay," I replied with a nod and looked at the other four. "What are your plans, you guys?"

"Gippal and I rented a room in the hotel that is by the temple," Rikku piped up as she linked her arms through her boyfriend's. "If you want us to, we'll watch Ari for the night so you can have a night off."

"That'd be great. Thanks." Ordinarily I wouldn't have leapt at the opportunity, but I wanted to do some research and have a long talk with Baralai, and I knew that would be hard if I had to take care of a one year old at the same time. "What about you, Paine?"

"Lai and I actually rented a room as well," she said slowly as she noticed how I kept stealing glances at Baralai. "What is it?"

"I think I'm going to steal Baralai from you for a while," I explained and put a hand on the reluctant Praetor's shoulder. "I think he and I need to have a nice long talk."

"I'll help in whatever way I can," he said with a shrug and a sigh.

Rikku walked up to me and held out her hands to Ari, who happily went to her cousin's arms. "You know, Tidus, I'm kind of surprised how Ariana will willingly just go into my arms like this. I haven't seen her since she was two days old. I could be a complete stranger and she would still come to me."

"Nah, I think it's just a relative instinct or something like that." I wasn't sure how logical my reasoning was, but Rikku smiled and bounced the baby in her arms. After kissing Ari on the top of her head, I rubbed my hands together and motioned toward the door. "So I guess that's the plan then. Let's all meet up in the morning for breakfast or something."

"Yay! Works for me!" Rikku exclaimed with a slight squeal. Eating was definitely a good way to get Rikku's attention, so that's why I used it.

After exchanging our goodbyes, we all separated to go to our next destinations.


	3. A Praetor's Perspective

**Oh my god, I don't want to be awake right now! I AM SO TIRED! However, Gwen (my muse!) was abusing me and making me write...lol! I finished this chapter, another one (I'm not sure if it's goign to be the next chapter or the one after that) and added a little more to the ending chapter. I'm glad I wanted to go to bed at midnight...:looks at clock to see that it's 3am: Yep, and I have to work tomorrow! Oh well, it's not until 1, so I'll be okay. I dont' work on Friday, so that means lots of sleeping time! (Or Cowboy Bebop time if my stuff arrives in the mail!) Okay, I'm falling asleep as I type this...Night!**

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**3. A Praetor's Perspective**

The second Baralai and I arrived at Yuna and my home, I didn't waste any time before I began drilling him with questions. It was his own damn fault for telling me about the threats that have been going around Bevelle. I just put what he said with what Yuna said and they both connected too well as far as I was concerned.

"So, you know something about what's going on and I wanna found out." I locked the door and headed to the kitchen so he and I would be able to have a place to sit without either of us getting too comfortable. "Tell me everything that you know. Every single detail."

"I told you, Tidus," he stated with a shake of his head. It was getting pretty late and by the look in his eyes, I knew he was getting tired. I wasn't going to let him leave or fall asleep on me, so I walked to the counter and started to make some coffee. "I don't know anything else than I already told you at the baby's party."

"You told me that you've been receiving threats, so what exactly were they?" I stared at the coffee pot in hope that it would make it brew faster, but of course it didn't. I patiently waited, but I knew I was going to need caffeine soon or else I would fall over right here.

"Oh, the usual," he stated in annoyance with a flick of his wrist. "Tidus, I know you're concerned, but I can pretty much guarantee you that what happened with Yuna isn't connected to what's going on in Bevelle. Bevelle has been receiving threats about New Yevon for so long that it seriously doesn't faze us anymore. We all just let it roll off our shoulders and we deal with other important matters."

Finally the liquid was starting to drip, but it would still be a few minutes before I could pour it. I turned my head toward him and cocked my head to the side. "Come on, Baralai. There has to be _something _that was said that would be relevant to what happened with Yuna."

The young praetor sighed at me, so I crossed my arms against my chest and focused on the coffee again. "You and Yuna live here anyway. The threats are literally about Bevelle. Bevelle is where New Yevon is set up, so the threats are toward New Yevon. Nothing has been said about the High Summoner."

"Yuna has been getting letters from I don't know who or what for the last few weeks, and I have a feeling that whoever shot Yuna sent those letters." I looked over my shoulder at him just in time to see the color drain out of his face. "Ah, so I take it you know something about them?"

"Not…exactly…" he responded slowly as he sat down and bit at his lip in thought. "I mean, all of us in Bevelle have been receiving threats as well, but they've been in sphere form. Like I told you at the party, they were verbal threats, nothing else, and verbal threats aren't credible."

I reached in the cupboards for some mugs and I poured the liquid in them. I handed him one, along with some sugar and cream. "But they're still threats."

"Tidus, you're going down a dead path," he said with a sigh as he stirred his condiments with a spoon. "Some messages say that they're going to blow up Bevelle or kill the praetor, and you can clearly see that Bevelle is in one piece and I am as well. We have so much security there that nothing goes through without being investigated. That includes people, mail, spheres…everything. Seriously, a speck of dust couldn't fly by without ten guards checking it out to make sure that it was safe and bomb free."

"Okay, that's Bevelle though," I argued. "Yuna has nothing to do with Bevelle, I'm quite aware of that. The thing that is bothering me is that Yuna is basically the queen of Yevon. Not New Yevon, just Yevon."

"Yevon no longer exists," Baralai stated with a roll of his eyes. "You were there when Yu Yevon was destroyed. You of all people should know these things."

I sat down in the chair on the opposite side of the table from him, cursing as my coffee slightly spilling from the impact of the mug hitting the table. I reached toward the center of the table where the napkin holder was and mopped up the mess as I continued speaking. "Yes, but there are some people in this world who want Yevon to be resurrected. I know it can't be done, but some people hold on to their old beliefs."

"There's no one in Bevelle like that," Baralai assured me with a small chuckle. "Everyone in Bevelle is part of New Yevon and fully supports that. No one wants to go on the path of false hope and maesters again."

"Yuna even told me that everyone in Bevelle, with the exception of you, is trying to get the ways of Yevon back out in Spira," I mentioned, Baralai scoffing at my sentence.

"That's nonsense," Baralai said as he shook his head. "Everything that is said throughout Bevelle comes back to me, and I have heard nothing of the sort. It sounds like crazy talk to me."

I sipped my coffee and continued think of different ways to argue with him. I wasn't getting anywhere but I knew he was hiding something from me. Baralai is a very easy man to read; he becomes more flustered when he lies. "Well, Yuna said she knew about it. Maybe the letters explain something about it?"

"Do you have them?" He asked as I stood up and stretched my arms. "It's going to be hard to verify that unless we have written proof."

"She threw most of the letters out, but I want to find the ones that she kept," I informed him, putting my hands on the table for support. "Wait here as I go search for them."

"You don't want help?" He asked me as I started to walk toward the bedroom. "You have, what, seven rooms in this house? They could be anywhere. It could even be one of those things where Yuna put them in different places throughout the house."

I rubbed my forehead and stopped walking so I could think about the possible hiding spots. He was right; there were a lot of spots that she would hide them. The more I thought about it, I realized that she would want to hide them in an inconspicuous spot so I wouldn't run across them. "Yeah, that might be a good idea. I want to start in the bedroom though."

"If I run into anything scarring, I'm never going to forgive you," he replied as he stood up and followed me to the bedroom that I shared with Yuna. I chuckled at him as I opened the door and looked inside. "Wow, it's spotless."

"Of course it is. It's Yuna we're talking about here, not to mention that she knew that we were having company," I responded, heading for the dresser first. "I'll start here, you can start in the closet. There's a few drawers in there and I promise that none of them are underwear drawers."

"Thank you in advance," Baralai said with a relieved sigh before walking toward the closet. I considered giving him the dresser so he could look through Yuna's lingerie, but I figured he would've blushed. I would've gotten a good laugh out of it though.

I started to dig through the drawer, pushing things aside and messing up Yuna's organized drawers. She was going to be in the hospital for a few days, so I would have plenty of time to refold everything before she got home. "Well, nothing in this…hello."

I felt my knuckles hit something and it definitely wasn't the side of the drawer, so I moved everything out of the way to find out that it was a box. "What is it?" Baralai asked as he walked out of the closet, empty handed.

"I'm not sure." I looked up at him then looked back down in the box. I stared at it for a few good minutes and almost considered putting it back. It was about an inch thick, a good nine inches wide, six inches long, black, and didn't bear any abnormal decorations. In other words, it was just a rectangular, black box. It wasn't empty though; it actually was quite heavy.

"What are you waiting for?" He questioned when he saw my hesitation. "It's not going to open up by itself, you know."

I furrowed my forehead as I put my hand on the top and started to pull it off. "I just…feel strange about going through Yuna's personal stuff. Do you think she would honestly tell me if she thought she was in danger?"

"You know your wife better than we all do," he replied honestly with a shrug. "But when you think about it, she always jumps head first into the fray. It doesn't matter how dangerous it is, she wants to make Spira a safer place. That's exactly the reason why she's High Summoner."

"Baralai," I started as I put the lid back on the box. I didn't even open it all the way, so I didn't see what was inside. "You don't think this has anything to do with the way that Yuna prefers to live her life, do you?"

"What do you mean?"

"High Summoner's are technically supposed to live in Bevelle, remain single, definitely not have any kids, and are supposed to teach Spira's citizens the way of Yevon." I let out a chuckle as I put the box back in her drawer and shut it. "Yuna certainly hasn't followed the rules."

"I'm sure there are some people who are upset, but I don't think any of them would get violent and attack her for her choice," Baralai said calmly as I looked down at the top of the dresser. There was a picture of Yuna and I from our wedding surrounded by a few pictures of Ari and a few pictures of the three of us. "She wouldn't want to live her life like that. I think all of Spira is aware of that fact."

"I don't remember much about Yevon, but I do remember how some people dedicated their heart and soul toward their belief in him. Sure, Yevon was replaced by New Yevon, but some people are stubborn and refuse to change their beliefs," I stated with a shake of my head. "It's just a thought that's been running through my head lately."

"I noticed. That's the second time you've mentioned it tonight. However, don't even think about that, Tidus," Baralai said after a moment of silence. I knew that he wasn't sure what to say, but he just wanted to say something to break the silence. "When I go back to Bevelle, I'll try to find some things out and I'll let you know. For now, I think you're on a wild chocobo chase."

I drummed my fingers on the top of the dresser, not wanting to give up. "I just want to know why someone would shoot her. She dedicates her life for the people of Spira."

"I guess there isn't anything you can do until she gets out of the hospital and see if the situation gets worse." I slowly turned my head to glare at him. That was something he should not have said. "What?"

"'See if the situation gets worse?'" I repeated in disbelief with a scoff. "That could mean a variety of things, the worst being someone actually murdering Yuna. I don't want to take that risk."

"Then look in the box and see what's inside." Baralai was clearly frustrated with the way I was tossing my opinion back and forth like a blitzball, but I didn't want to make a mistake. "Do whatever you'd like, but I don't have any more information for you. Wait until I go back to Bevelle tomorrow and then I'll see if I can help you out more."

"What time is it?" I asked as I looked at the clock on the wall. "Okay, it's only midnight. I'm going to go over to where Rikku and Gippal are staying and bring Ariana back here, then I'm gonna go against my instincts and search around the house some more."

"Why not leave Ari with Rikku and Gippal?" He asked as we started to walk out the house toward the hotel. "She'll be safe there."

"She'll be safe with me too," I replied. I wasn't in the mood to argue with him, so I decided to elaborate. "One of my girls is in the hospital, so since I can't be with both, I want to at least be with one."

"Fair enough," he stated as we walked the rest of the way in silence. We exchanged goodbyes and I walked to the entrance of Rikku and Gippal's room.

I knocked rather loudly to make sure that it would be heard, then put my hands in my pockets. The door opened, and it was Rikku in a very skimpy teddy and Ariana in her arms.

"Holy shit, Rikku!" I cried as I looked away from her.

"Hi, Tidus!" Rikku exclaimed as Ariana squealed and reached for me. I took her in my hands and she happily wrapped her arms around my neck. "What's the matter?"

"First of all, you're in a very revealing outfit! More revealing than usual, anyway," I stated as I mustered up enough courage to look at her again. "Secondly, it's almost 12:30 in the morning. Why isn't Ariana in bed?"

"Well, I tried putting her down, but she only cried," Rikku told me with an innocent look in her eyes. "Besides, she never gets to spend any time with me, so I figured she wanted to stay up."

I groaned at the thought that Ari was not going to be a happy baby in the morning, but oh well. Nothing I could do about it now. "Okay, well, I'm gonna take her home if you don't mind."

"Aww," Rikku whined as she pouted. "Okay, you're the daddy. I'll let you."

"I'm glad you're allowing me to take back my daughter," I said with a chuckle. Ari rested her head against my shoulder, proving to me that she was exhausted and on the brink of falling asleep.

"We're still on for a group breakfast tomorrow, aren't we?" She asked and bounced on her toes. I honestly wonder where that girl gets her energy from. It never seems to run out. I once told her that she would make some great gil if she could find a way to bottle it and sell it.

"You better believe it," I said with a smile as she squealed. She covered her mouth when she realized that Ari was half asleep so I chuckled at her. "All right, I'm gonna get going. Have a good night, Rikku."

"You too!" She said cheerfully as she shut the door and I made my way back home.

Upon reaching my destination, I put Ariana in the playpen that was set up in our bedroom. Even though her bedroom was only one room away, I just wanted to make sure that she was in my sight tonight. The nervous feeling that I was battling all day since my wife was shot still haunted me and I didn't want anything else to happen. Not as long as I could help it.

I looked away from Ari to the dresser and slowly walked over to it. I knew I shouldn't, but I still opened up the top drawer and found that box again. I put one hand up to my face and grabbed my lower lip in thought as I inspected the box again. With a sigh, I sat on the bed, still holding the box.

"Just open it, Tidus," I muttered to myself as I reached for the cover. Just as I was about to rip off the lid, my cellsphere rang. I must've jumped about three feet in the air; it scared me that much. Putting the box next to me, I reached over to the dresser and picked up the sphere. "Hello?"

"Hey, it's me." It was Yuna. My face lit up at the sound of her voice and my smile probably could've illuminated the entire room.

"Honey, how are you feeling?" I asked her as I kicked off my shoes. "Wait, why are you up? Shouldn't you be resting?"

"I couldn't sleep," she replied with a chuckle. "I knew you would be up, so I thought I would give you a call just to say hi."

"Oh. Well, hi!" I said in a boyish manner.

"So, what are you up to?" I instantly looked at the box next to me and felt guilty. I knew I shouldn't be looking through her stuff, yet I kind of was. "Tidus, you there?"

"Yeah, I'm here," I stated as I grabbed the box and put it back in the dresser without seeing what was inside. "I just put Ari to bed and I'm about ready to lay down myself. I'm not sure how much sleep I'm going to get without you next to me, but I'm going to try my best."

"I miss you," she said in a slightly whining tone. "I don't like being here all alone."

"I miss you too," I responded, shutting the dresser drawer quietly so I wouldn't wake up the baby. "Just think, you'll be home in a couple of days."

"I can't wait." She sighed and I just could picture the look on her face. I knew how much she hated hospitals. "Look, I really wanted to apologize for lashing out at you earlier."

"Don't worry about it," I informed her as I got ready for bed. "I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions. I trust you and your judgment, so if you want me to stay out of this and let things work themselves out, I'll do that."

She sighed again, but this time it was a sigh of relief. "Thanks. That means a lot. I promise you that if I keep on getting letters or things to that nature, we'll investigate it some more. For now, I think it'll just blow over."

"I hope you're right," I muttered under my breath.

"I really should get going though," she said slowly, proving to me that she didn't want to go. "Have a good night."

"You too, Yuna," I replied with a smile. "I love you."

"I love you too."

I hung up my sphere and put it back on the dresser next to the alarm clock. I rubbed my face with my hands in thought before I turned off the lamp and attempted to sleep.


	4. A Woman's Intuition

**Whoo, I was able to have my computer behave long enough to finish this chapter and then post it:sigh: I need a new battery for my laptop, so it will seriously last about twenty minutes and then die on me...even if I have it plugged in. Oh well...It's been working for about an hour now, so that makes me happy. My new battery will come in the mail sometime this week...YAY! Anyway, so yeah, I didn't originally plan to write this chapter,...but when I wrote the next one, I felt like something was missing. Therefore, I wrote this one. yay. It took me a while to write actually...and I changed the name of it...lol. Chapter Five will be up in a few days! Okay, that's it! Bye!**

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**4. A Woman's Intuition**

I lifted my arm and shut off the alarm before it was able to buzz twice. I probably could've gotten to it sooner, but oh well. It was 7:30 am. The sunset was at 6:12am and it was gorgeous in case you wanted to know. How did I know the exact time? I watched the sun rise over the horizon from my spot in my bed. Yeah, I was awake all night and it was definitely one of the longest nights of my life. Spira was pretty damn boring compared my Zanarkand, but staring at the clock as the minutes click away your existence wins the boring award.

All right, I lied. I wasn't _only_ staring at the clock all night; I had a lot of things on my mind and I overanalyzed them all. That is one trait that I absolutely hated about myself. I couldn't just let something work itself out; I had to think of every possibility of what could happen. Yuna always tells me I just worry too much, but usually I worry about things that I have a bad feeling about. For instance, that damn box. What the hell was up with it? I should've just gotten up in the middle of the night and opened it, but I just couldn't. Maybe it was just the fear of actually finding out what was inside. My mother always told me that curiosity kills the chocobo, but it was basically taunting me! I'm sure if I would've dreamt, my dreams would've consisted of black boxes saying, "Open me…you know you want to…" I battled myself over it, but I decided on just confronting Yuna about it when I went to visit her at the hospital later.

With a sigh, I sat up in my bed and hung my legs over the edge. After tapping the ground with my toes for a second, I stood up and walked over to Ari's playpen. She was awake; I saw her wake up about an hour previous. She didn't cry or make a fuss so I let her entertain herself by playing with a stuffed Shiva that her mother bought for her. Yuna thought the doll was cute and I went along with it, but I still wasn't sure just how thrilled I was about it. The thought of Yuna's pilgrimage just chilled me to the bone and I didn't like to be reminded me of it. I was just waiting for the doll to become possessed and perform Diamond Dust or something.

She looked up at me and squealed as she dropped the doll. I smiled as she grabbed onto the side of the playpen and tried to stand up. You would think that she would be able to walk by now because she is a year old, but she just attempts. She takes about two steps then falls right back down. However, she's like her mother; never gives up.

I leaned over and kissed her on the top of her head then walked to the closet to find something to wear. The shirt I wanted was up kind of high, but since I wanted to wear it, I was determined. I bit my bottom lip, stood on my tiptoes and reached for it. I got it, all right…along with the other shirts that were around it.

A rain of clothing fell down around me and I groaned. If I didn't pick them up before Yuna came home, she'd have it in for me, that's for sure. With another groan, I bent over and picked up the shirts. As I was about to pick up one of my favorite blue shirts, something fluttered out of it.

"Hmm," I muttered as I picked it up. It was an envelope. I frowned when I saw Yuna's name embossed on the front of it and quickly opened it. It was obvious that it had been opened previously, so my heart raced. I put my finger under the flap to open it and I took out the thick parchment paper that was inside.

The piece of paper inside was badly crumpled, no doubt from Yuna after she read it. She probably got frustrated with it, but that just begs the question; why did she put it back in the envelope? More importantly, why did she save it? Those questions only made my curiosity grow, so I knew I had to read it now. Even though I knew the only people in the house were Ari and I, I still looked around before I unfolded it.

"'Soon,'" I read aloud, raising an eyebrow. That's all it said. One word written in thick, red cursive in the center of the page. I flipped the paper around in my hand, hoping that there would be more information than that, but, alas, there wasn't. Okay, that's great. Soon what? When? How soon is 'soon?' Who knows how long ago this letter was sent anyway! I scoffed and shoved the letter back in the envelope then into the pants that I was planning on wearing.

My spherecell rang so I rushed over to it and picked it up. "Hello?"

"Good morning, Sunshine!"

"Rikku?" I asked, putting on my clothes at the same time. She was such a morning person. Actually, she was one of those 'all day' people; no matter what time it was, she was hyper. "Good morning to you as well."

"I just wanted to be your wake up call and make sure that you didn't forget that we were going out to breakfast." Like I said before, that girl thinks solely with her stomach.

"No, I didn't forget," I informed her, picking up Ari so I could get her dressed. "However, I really would like to see Yuna a.s.a.p., so I think I'm going to skip breakfast."

"What!" I was holding the phone between my ear and shoulder, and I almost dropped it. She screeched out the word at such a high pitch that I'm surprised I didn't go deaf. "Tidus!"

"Yeah, I know," I said in apology as I entered Ari's room. "You guys can go on without me, okay?"

She let out a long sigh and I didn't have to see her to know that she was wearing a pout. "Fine. But just think of all the warm, squishy, delicious pancakes you're going to be missing! _And_ don't think that I'll be saving any for you. I'll eat them all by myself!"

"Rikku, come on," I protested. I was grabbing clothes out for Ari with one hand while I held the baby in the other with the phone between my ear and shoulder. I probably looked hysterical. "You know that I wouldn't miss a meal if it wasn't for an important reason."

"Uh oh," she said quickly. "Did you figure out what happened? Like, who shot her and stuff?"

"I'm working on it," I replied as I put Ari on the changing table. "I just need to ask her a few questions, that's all. Just meet us up at the hospital after breakfast or something."

"Well, yeah, because we're all leaving today," she informed me. I knew that Paine and Baralai were leaving that afternoon but I completely forgot that Rikku and Gippal were leaving right away as well. They originally planned to stay a few days, but some official Machine Faction business popped up right before they left, so they needed to get back there as soon as they could. "I definitely want to see you guys before heading back to Bikanel."

"All righty, but I gotta go because I need to put some clothes on Ari then head over to the hospital." I loved talking to Rikku, but I was having a hell of a time trying to dress the baby with one hand. Ari was extremely fidgety this morning for some reason and it wasn't making the task easy.

"You're not going to take the baby with you, are you?" She asked as I stole a glance down at Ari.

Dammit, I didn't think about that. "Well…um…Rikku…"

"I'll be right over!" She exclaimed, grasping my hint. "Okay! Bye!"

"Bye," I responded, quickly hanging up the sphere then slipping the dress on Ari before Rikku arrived.

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"Awww!" Yuna clapped her hands together and squealed as I walked in her hospital room about an hour later with a bouquet of flowers. I kissed her on the lips as she looked at the flowers. "They're beautiful!"

"So, what's in the box?" I asked her as I crossed my arms. I should've asked her how she was feeling, but I didn't waste any time. I wore a cheerful smile as she froze while putting the flowers in water.

"What did you just say?" She turned her head toward me slowly, in disbelief that I just asked her that.

I shrugged my shoulders and rocked on the arches of my feet. "You heard me." I'm pretty sure the smile on my face confused her the most. After a second with her mouth gaped wide open, she realized that my smile was one out of irony and she frowned.

"There are a zillion boxes in our house, so how am I supposed to know which one you're talking about?"

"It's a black box, about 'yea' big," I began to explain as I motioned the approximate dimensions with my fingers. "I found it in your top drawer. If you ask me, it wasn't very cleverly hidden."

Her face was deadpanned as she looked at me. She was clearly scrambling for an excuse in her head, but I could tell that she couldn't find one. "Oh, _that _box."

"Yep, that's the one."

"Did you…open it?" She asked, grimacing. She didn't want to know the answer to that question.

"Honey, if I opened it, I wouldn't have asked you what was in it," I said, watching the relief wash over her features. "But now that I think about it, if you don't tell me what's in the box, I could always just go back home and open it up. I just wanted to see if you would tell me what was in it so I wouldn't have to play detective."

With an exhale, she rubbed her face with her hands. "Tidus, it's nothing important." Her voice was muffled from her hands and I chuckled at her. She parted her fingers so one eye could see me. "What's so funny?"

"If it wasn't important, you wouldn't have tried to hide it," I told her as I walked over to her bed and sat down next to legs. "Another thing, if it 'wasn't important,' you would tell me what was in it. What are you hiding from me?"

"I'm not hiding anything." I narrowed my eyes at her and she put her hands in her lap. "I'm not, I swear"

"Then tell me what's in it." I didn't think I was asking for a lot, but apparently I was wrong. Her face turned paler by the minute and her skin even broke out into goosebumps. The room was so quiet that I could hear her breathe…in a scared manner. "Was it something I said?"

She shook her head and even let out a breathy laugh. "How's Ari?"

Leave it to Yuna to avoid the situation when it was just starting to get interesting too. "She's fine, Yuna, but you're dodging the subject." She shrugged, so I pulled the note that I discovered earlier out of my pocket. "Does this tie into whatever it is that's in the box?"

She swallowed as she took the envelope with her trembling fingers. I wasn't sure if it was a good idea to give that to her or not; she looked like she was going to have a heart attack right then and there. Her eyes looked at the front of the envelope and she didn't even open it.

"Who's it from, Yuna?" I asked sternly. She shrugged and continued to look at the paper in her hands.

"Please don't patronize me," she whispered, ripping up the envelope with the note inside of it into tiny pieces before continuing. "I really don't need this right now."

I took the pieces from her and threw them away. "I'm not trying to patronize you. I'm just trying to look out for you."

"How many times do I have to tell you that I'm fine?" It was the first time she looked up at me since I walked in, and even though her eyes flared up, I was at least getting some kind of a response. "Look, I know you're concerned and that's very sweet, but I'm telling you that there isn't anything to get worked up about."

"In less than 24 hours ago you were shot and now I'm finding black boxes and notes with random messages on them that you were hiding from me," I retorted back, shocking her with my tone. "If you told me what was going on, I would get off your back about it, but if you're going to stay all secretive about what's going on, so be it. I'll just figure everything out on my own."

"The more you know, the shorter your life will be." Now it was my turn to break out into goosebumps. I have never heard Yuna speak like that; not just the words themselves, but the way she said them. Her voice wasn't just icy and full of warning, but she was completely terrified herself. "For too long I've been the first one to try to unravel the problems in Spira and all it's done is cause more problems. Now I'm married and starting a family. I'm sick of making risks and putting others in danger."

I wasn't sure where she was going with this, so I sighed and crossed my arms. "Are you even listening to yourself as you speak? You never dragged anyone else into danger. You were always the one who saved thousands of lives. Think of all the times you've saved Spira from complete armageddon."

"This time it's different," she stated, smoothing the sheet out on her legs.

"What do you mean?" I asked, furrowing my forehead.

"This time it's about me. Therefore, if I keep my business to myself and not get involved with what's going on, things won't get worse and everything will be fine." Again she looked away from me and twisted the sheet between her fingers as she spoke.

"So, what you're saying is that you're going to just hope that it all goes away?" I raised an eyebrow at her and she nodded. "Oh, Yuna, you think it's all that simple."

"Tidus, you're the one who making a big deal out of nothing," she replied back with a huff. "Please, just let it go."

I couldn't help but feel defeated. She wasn't going to cave in and relieve my curiosity. "Will you at least tell me how long ago you received that note?"

"Two weeks ago," she said simply. Her voice was sharp, but at least I got an answer out of her. I still wasn't sure how soon 'soon' was, but maybe 'soon' was a while ago. "Everything will be fine, okay?"

"How do you know that?" I countered back with a sigh.

"Call it a…woman's intuition," she replied with a sly smile. "You know me, if there is trouble, I'm the first one on the 'Yay, let's save Spira' airship. Therefore, since I'm calm, you should be too. Wow, is it me, or does it feel like we had this conversation yesterday?"

I chuckled and nodded. She was right; we did have the same conversation the previous night and I'm imagining that we would have it again if I didn't listen to her.

"Okay, I'll give in," I informed her, attempting a smile. She grabbed my hands, leaned over, and gave me a kiss in gratitude. "Oh, I do bring you good news though."

"What's that?" She asked me, kicking her toes under the sheet in excitement.

"The doctor says you can come home today." She let out a squeal and hugged me. "But, you have to promise me that you will relax and rest, okay?"

"Of course, of course!" Her eyes sparkled in happiness as she looked up at me with a very large smile. "When?"

"I'm gonna go talk to the nurse right now and find out for you, okay?" I asked as she nodded. I kissed her on the forehead and she continued to move her toes. She looked like a kid in a candy store and she probably felt like one too. Like I've said before, she hated hospitals and anything to do with them.

I walked out of the room and sighed at myself for caving into her wishes. She was right though, and Lulu said the same exact thing the previous day. Yuna was always the first one to investigate things that were going on, and she was calm this time. Hell, she almost broke out of the hospital a few years ago to see what was going on in the Via Infinito, but this time she was the one convincing me not go leap into something.

Oh well. You can't ignore a woman's intuition now, can you?


	5. Trying To Get Back To Normal

**Okay, I figured that I've had this written for a while so I could post it. Of course, my computer is still being a pain in the ass...The sooner I get my new battery the better:cries: Oh well, it'll come sometime this week. It just sucks though because it won't stay charged for 20 minutes...and the a/c adaptor won't charge it if it's on. Like i said, it's a pain in the ass. So I managed to save it all on my USB drive and now I'm downstairs. When i get my new battery, I'll write more...because I hate writing downstairs where my parents frequent. Okay, anyway...here's chapter 5.**

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**5. Trying To Get Back To Normal**

"Oh, Tidus," Yuna said coyly to grab my attention. I faced her, slightly panting as she held Ariana in her lap on the hammock and sipped her iced tea. She batted her eyes innocently as she pointed about ten feet away from where I was standing. "I think _that_ one is crooked."

I tried not to look at her in disbelief at the same time I wiped my forehead with the back of my hand. The board that she pointed to was one that was put in about two hours ago. Of course, the day that it was almost 100 degrees outside, Wakka and I decided to build an extremely high fence around the perimeter of our yard to avoid mysterious attacks again. I craned my neck to look at the board and I saw that it was straight and Yuna was just trying to pull my leg. It's a good thing too, because fixing a board was the last thing I wanted to do right now; I was drenched in sweat and I felt like my body was going to melt away.

"Hey, no back seat contracting," I quipped, leaning against one of the poles that was secured in the ground. Even though Wakka and I had been working all afternoon, we only had about a forth of the backyard done. I bent over to grab my shirt that was lying on the grass and wiped my face with that—my hand didn't do anything but smear dirt from my hands over my eyes. "Besides, we're doing the best that we can."

"I know, I'm just teasing you," she said, gently fanning herself with the newspaper that she was reading. "You won't let me help anyway."

I chuckled at her and shook my head. She just got out of the hospital a few days prior, so I wasn't going to let her do anything that required heavy lifting…or moving in general. I was still shocked that she was resting right now instead of helping against my wishes. "You look so nice in your cute little sundress though!" I pointed to her as I spoke. "I wouldn't want you to get dirty or sweaty. Not to mention, we don't want everything in Spira to stop because you broke a nail."

"Oh stop," she replied with a sigh. "I'm not like that. That's Rikku's job, not mine."

"You sure?" I shot back, raising one of my eyebrows. "If I'm not mistaken, you ran up to me a few weeks ago with tears in your eyes and said, 'Tidus! I broke a nail and it hurts! Kiss it to make it feel better!'"

Yuna tried to give me a stern look but she was definitely holding in giggles. "First of all, I broke it because the cupboard bit it!"

"You didn't tell me that something was possessing the cupboards," I stated as I put my hand on my heart to feign fear. "Dear Spira, what are we going to do?"

"Okay okay, I get the hint!" She cried in defeat, throwing her hands in the air. "That really did hurt, ya know."

"You two are terrible," Wakka said with a laugh as he shook his head at us.

"It's just the Tidus and Yuna show," I announced with a slight bow. "Thank you, come again."

"Anyway, Tidus, whaddaya say we pick this up tomorrow, ya?" Wakka asked me with a sigh. I faced him and nodded. "Good. Lu'll start to make dinner soon and she'll wonder why I'm not helping."

"Tell Lulu I say hi!" Yuna said with a small wave.

Wakka walked over to our deck and grabbed his shirt off the railing. "I will. Take care, you two."

"We will," I said as Yuna and I watched him walk out of our sight.

"You guys got a lot done today," she mentioned as she motioned me closer to her. I obeyed and sat on the ground next to where the hammock was set up. "It looks really good."

"I didn't think it was going to take us this long to do it," I responded with a sigh, taking a sip of her iced tea. "I wanted to get at least half of it done, but oh well, we're only human."

"I enjoyed watching," she stated with a giggle. "It was rather humorous. Especially when you and Wakka were in each other's way!"

"That's all you're gonna say about it? Why not mention how Wakka dropped the hammer on my foot?" She burst into laughter when I brought up the memory. Yeah. Wakka was trying to nail two of the wooden planks together as I held them up, and his hands were so sweaty that the hammer flung right out of his hand and onto my foot. It was a miracle that I didn't break any toes but, nonetheless, it still stung like a bitch. "Fine, you can laugh all you want, but I'm glad that you sat around and did nothing all afternoon."

"I just listened to you!" She narrowed her forehead at me and slightly pouted her lips.

"I wasn't being sarcastic, I really meant it," I clarified as she smiled at me. "If I'm not mistaken, the last time that I told you to rest, you decided to pick up Ariana and that only resulted in me having to rush you back over to the hospital to get restitched up."

"I overexert myself, I'm aware." Yuna never liked to be told she was wrong, so I never actually _say _she's wrong…I just infer it and she confesses. I've got it down to a science. "But hey, it's been about three days without anyone trying to kill me, so I say we're doing well."

"Don't jinx it," I stated and quickly looked around. "I'm still nervous about it, you know. Actually, while we're at it, let's go inside."

Yuna nodded, so I helped her get out of the hammock carefully so she wouldn't pull any more stitches. After I picked up Ari, we walked into the house and I pointed to a chair. "Okay, we're inside. There's a chair! You know what to do."

"Arg, you baby me!" She complained, but I knew that she was aware that I was just looking out for her. She put her hand over her stomach and I sighed at her. "What's that for?"

"Are you still in pain?" I asked as I put Ari in the playpen that was set up in the kitchen. I put one in there so one of us could keep an eye on her while we were making dinner, and it worked out quite well. It was a smart idea if I do say so myself.

"I wouldn't say 'pain,'" she replied with a shrug. "I mean, it itches more than anything, but oh well. There's nothing I can do about it, and I'll be fine. It's just that you have a 'worry face' on."

I chuckled at her and poured myself a glass of ice water. Even though the air conditioning was on in the house, I still felt like I was stranded in the middle of the Sanubia Desert. In the middle of taking a sip, the sphere rang. "Ooh, I'll get it."

"Thank you," Yuna said, watching me walk to the opposite side of the kitchen to answer it.

"Hello?" I asked, taking a sip of my water as I waited for a reply.

"Tidus, 'zat you?"

"Speaking?" I didn't mean to make my statement into a question, but I didn't recognize the voice. It was a man's, very gruff, and it sounded familiar, but I couldn't put the voice to a face.

"Don't sound so confused!" The man sounded insulted and I felt really horrible. Not only was I terrible at names, but I guess I'm terrible at sounds too. "It's Yuna's uncle Cid, don't ya recognize my voice!"

I chuckled and put my glass down on the counter before speaking again. "Oh, hey! I knew it was you, but I was just—"

"Put Yuna on the phone." I blinked at the phone for a second at his urgency. I don't think he even paid attention to my lie. I really didn't know it was him, but I thought it would make him feel better.

"Yeah, sure," I responded with a nod. I walked over to Yuna and handed her the sphere. "Here, honey. It's your Uncle Cid."

Her eyes sparkled in delight as I handed her the phone. "Uncle Cid! How are you? I haven't seen you in so long and I was wondering—"

Ha, he apparently cut her off as well. Well, at least it wasn't just me! I turned around to grab a towel to wipe off the sweat that was still streaming down everywhere, and when I faced Yuna again, I almost dropped it. Her hand was absentmindedly twisting her necklace and her face was completely pale. It looked like she just saw a ghost.

"Oh my…" She stated as Cid rambled on about something. He was a very boisterous man, so I could vaguely hear his voice on the other end. Unfortunately, I couldn't understand the words. "What happened? When?"

I eavesdropped on their conversation and I handed Yuna my glass of water. I figured she needed it more than I did at the moment. She seriously looked like she was going to pass out right then and there. I furrowed my forehead in concern as she said 'goodbye' and hung up.

She sighed and chewed on her lip as she painfully tried to stand up. "Where are you going?" I asked her with a smile on my face. I could tell that it was not a good conversation with Cid, it was obvious. Not to mention that he hasn't picked up the sphere to call us in over two years, so it had to be important. I was just trying to cheer her up, but the grim look on her face remained. I hated when she wore that look; it worried me. "Yuna, what was that all about?"

"We need to go to Bikanel," she replied simply, causing my jaw to drop.

"'We need to go to Bikanel?'" I repeated slowly as I watched her start to walk toward our bedroom. I quickly grabbed Ari and followed her. "What do you mean by that? Why do we need to go to Bikanel?"

"Rikku was over Gippal's house earlier today and it was raided," she said, shaking her head and rapidly opening drawers. "The attackers didn't take anything in the house. Instead, they instantly went after the two of them."

"Oh shit." I exhaled, closed the door, and placed Ari on the ground so she wouldn't go far. I grabbed a suitcase that was in our closet and helped Yuna start to pack. "Are they okay? I-I mean, do they know who did it?"

"Well, they're both in the hospital. They're not in intensive care, so I'm sure they'll be all right in the next few days. As for who did it? You know Uncle Cid," she began and threw several of my shirts into the suitcase. "He blames it strictly on the men of Yevon or New Yevon or…whatever."

I stopped opening the drawer I was in front of and turned toward her. With a huff, she put the stray hairs that fell from her ponytail behind her ear. "Yuna, I don't mean to bring this up, but do you think…" I trailed off when her lips turned into a frown.

"No. Don't. Don't even _start_ to think that this could be connected to what happened to me." I didn't mean to piss her off, but it had to be said. "I'm sure it was just a random attack."

"You said that what happened to you was just a 'random attack,'" I pointed out, putting the clothing in my hands in the suitcase, then folding my arms across my chest. "I'm just saying that the two instances might be connected. I mean, think about it. You're the high summoner, Gippal's the leader of the Machine Faction…It seems a little too coincidental to me."

"That's all it is, Tidus," she stated firmly without looking at me. "It's just a coincidence."

Because she didn't look at me, I knew she didn't believe her own words. She was just trying to calm me down, but it wasn't going to work. However, I wasn't going to argue with her and cause more problems. "Are we going to take Ari with us or do we want to leave her with Lulu and Wakka?"

"I think Lulu and Wakka have enough to deal with when it comes to Vidina and Lily. I don't think they need another toddler to take care of," Yuna said, throwing several more of my shirts into the suitcase.

"Whoa," I exclaimed, counting that she had packed six shirts for me. "Yuna, are we going to visit Gippal and Rikku or spend a vacation in the desert?"

"I'm not sure how long we're going to have to be there, so there's no harm in being prepared," she informed me as she walked back into the closet for more clothes. We almost had one completely filled and we haven't even begun packing stuff for Ariana yet. "Besides, Cid is sending Brother over in his newest airship, so we don't have to worry about paying extra for heavy luggage on a ship."

"What happened to the Celsius?" I asked and she shrugged. "Ahh, Cid was getting restless, eh?"

"Something like that."

I looked at the time then realized that I was still sweaty. "Oh wait a second, I really want to shower. Do you think I'll have enough time?"

"You should," she replied with a nod, bending over to pick up Ariana.

"Honey, should you be doing that?" I rushed over to her to help her. "Like I said, I don't want to have to rush _you_ to the hospital. You've spent enough time there lately."

"I'm fine," she confirmed as she stood up. She wasn't wincing in pain, so I hesitantly believed her. "Go ahead and take a shower while I pack up some things for Ari. Oh, I should probably call Wakka and Lulu to tell them what happened as well. I'll have time. I'm sure we'll be able to hear the airship long before it gets here anyway."

"Okay," I replied, kissing both her and Ari on the cheek before walking to the bathroom to take a shower. I shut the door and shook my head. She seemed awfully calm about the fact that her cousin and her cousin's boyfriend were in the hospital and that worried me. I want to pin it down with denial, but Yuna was pretty good with facing the facts.

Maybe Yuna was right. Maybe the events weren't connected and I was over reacting. The sooner we got to Bikanel the better.


	6. To Bikanel

**I had a hell of a time coming up for a title for this chapter...and To Zanarkand was playing...so yeah. That's how I got the title for this chapter! ha ha. Anyway, it's difficult trying to keep three fics going at once...I just posted a new one a few days ago called Zanarkand Dreams. (If you're interested to see what it's about, there's a summary in my profile!) Anyway, It took me a while to like the way this chapter ended up...but eh, it's okay. I wonder how long this fic is going to be...I'm sure it won't be any longer than 11 or 12 chapters. That's okay though...I don't mind. Oh, and by the way... "Rekrfeht" in Al Bhed is "Highwind." That's my way of bringing my beloved Kain Highwind into the fic! (And for you VII fans, Cid Highwind. Kain came first though!) **

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**6. To Bikanel**

Yuna was right yet again; Cid's new airship made a hell of a racket as it came closer to Besaid. Everyone ran out of their homes to make sure that the island wasn't under some kind of attack for it sounded like some kind of artillery was going off. When people realized what it was, they grumbled and shook their heads. Even after all the time that has passed, the people of Besaid were still prejudice against the Al Bhed. I'm surprised that the people never gave Rikku disgusted looks when she visited. I guess you could call it a pleasant surprise. I would never want her to feel unwelcome. Then again, maybe the people of Besaid are all clueless like how Wakka was during Yuna's pilgrimage. It did take him a while to realize that Rikku was Al Bhed.

"I think that's our cue," I quipped with a smile as I looked toward my wife, who nodded in agreement. I grabbed the suitcases as Yuna put a hat on Ariana and picked her up, then we walked toward the beach. Carrying two suitcases while walking on sand was quite the challenge, but I managed to get there without killing myself.

Cid's new airship, the Rekrfeht, was about the same size as the Celcius, but it was blue instead of the bright red. It looked more like the airship that he had when Yuna was on her pilgrimage more than anything. I don't really remember the first airship that Cid had, but if I recall correctly, the Rekrfeht was larger. It was a magnificent ship; definitely the most intricate of the previous two that Cid had.

"Yuna!" Yuna and I looked up to see Brother running down the airship deck toward us. It's amazing how he still looked the same after all these years. Actually, I stand corrected. He did look very nice for Yuna and my wedding; Yuna even got him to shave his mohawk off so he wouldn't stick out too much. However, now it's back to its normal length and sticking up mohawk style again. I don't know what runs through that boy's head, and frankly, most of the time I'm thankful for that.

"Brother!" Yuna cried back with a wave from her free arm. It was the first time I've seen her smile in a few hours, so I was able to let out a sigh of relief. She hugged her cousin and he kissed her on the cheek. "It's good to see you again!"

"What's this?" He asked, pointing to Ari as he looked between Yuna and I.

"All right, I think it's all right to tell you," I said with a playful smirk, putting down the suitcases that I was holding. "It's called a baby."

"You think you're so funny, Tidus," he retorted as he put his hands out for Ariana. Like usual, she squealed and went right into his arms. She loved attention, so whenever someone wanted to give her some, she ate it right up. "She's getting so big."

Yuna nodded and smiled as Brother spoke in baby talk to the baby. It was actually baby Al Bhed talk because I couldn't understand a damn word that he was whispering. Ari was babbling along with him, so it was an amusing sight. Now that I think about it, I think that was the first time that Brother had seen Ari. He knew about her, but he never saw her before.

I noticed that Yuna started to follow Brother into the airship; leaving me with all the suitcases. I really didn't mind though because I still didn't want her to carry anything heavy…even though I felt that I was going to break my back from the two suitcases. With a grunt, I picked them up and made my way up to the airship as quickly as I could.

"So, how are Rikku and Gippal?" Yuna asked as she sat down in a chair on the bridge with Ari on her lap. "Uncle Cid didn't really give me a lot of details but you seem pretty calm about the entire circumstance."

"Oh, you know vydran," Brother said with a wave of his hand. "He overreacts over these kinds of things."

I put the suitcases down and leaned on one of them to catch my breath. Damn, I was really out of shape. It's been about two weeks since I've played blitz, so I'm going to use that as my excuse. "Do you know what happened?" I was panting as I spoke, but he was able to understand me.

"No one really knows, but they'll be fine," Brother replied with a shrug. "Rikku was unconscious for about two hours, but she woke up as if she was only sleeping. The doctors did several tests on her, but she's not suffering from any brain damage. Well, besides the damage caused from dating Gippal."

"I'm just thankful that they're all right," Yuna stated with a sigh, ignoring Brother's humor as she bounced Ari on her lap.

"Just so my point is clear, I'm not happy that everyone I know is getting a first class ticket to the hospital." I folded my arms across my chest and scoffed, receiving a disgusted look from Yuna. "What? Come on, you don't think it's a little suspicious?"

She shook her head at me and pursed her lips. "Thank you, Tidus. We all know your opinion on the matter, all right? Nothing can be confirmed until we talk to Gippal and Rikku."

"Did I miss something?" Brother asked, raising an eyebrow at the two of us. I would say that he looked lost, but the boy always did look lost. It's odd to think that he's older than me sometimes.

"No, nothing at all," Yuna informed him, her tone icy. "Just Tidus overreacting about nothing."

I didn't want to make her more upset, so I sighed and sat down in the seat next to her without saying anything at all. "All right, Brother, we should probably get going."

"Right," he agreed as he walked over to the pilot's seat to fly us to Bikanel.

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Leaving everything on the airship, we made our way to the fifth floor of the Home Hospital where Rikku and Gippal were. They managed to share a room together, which proved to us all that they were going to be okay. I held Ari in my arms so Yuna could nervously play with her fingers the entire walk down the hall. She looked into all the rooms, her face as pale as the bare white walls of the hallway. I felt sorry for her; she just got out of the hospital and she was walking through one again. I had to admit, I didn't like hospitals either, but Yuna always looked as though she had seen someone die right before her eyes.

"Honey, are you okay?" I asked as I put a hand on her arm. She gasped in shock at my touch, causing me to jump backward. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

"No, its…it's okay," she stammered, rubbing her arms with her hands. I watched the goosebumps appear on her body as she breathed in irregular intervals. "I'm just a little jumpy, that's all."

"At least if you faint, you're in the right spot," I quipped with a smile. Unfortunately, she didn't smile back. She only glared at me so I instantly wiped the smile off my face. "Sorry, that was inappropriate."

"Under different circumstances I would find it rather humorous, but I hate hospitals." Another shudder swept through her body as she looked around. "What room where they in again, Brother?"

"I think it was 518," he stated as he pointed to a room not far ahead. "It was something around there. If not, we'll just poke our heads in and see if we see two blondes."

"It's an Al Bhed hospital," I said with an amused sigh. "Basically everyone here has blonde hair and green eyes. That would be like going into a chocobo ranch and finding an insane worker there. They kind of go hand in hand."

"True, true," Brother agreed as we reached room 518. We walked in slowly, hesitant for we didn't want to walk into the wrong room, but luckily it was the right one.

"Yunie!" Rikku exclaimed with a squeal when she saw her cousin. "Ari, I think you've gotten bigger since the last time I saw you!"

I looked at Yuna and shrugged as we listened to Rikku babble on and on as quickly as she could about how great it was to see us again. I could tell that Yuna was thinking the same thing that I thought; if it wasn't for the fact that there was a bandage on her head and several scratches on her arms and legs, you would never be able to tell that she was beaten up. She also had a huge bowl of ice cream in front of her—another sign that she was healing quite nicely.

Gippal, who was in the bed next to Yuna, stretched and put his hands behind his head. His wounds didn't look that significant either. Again, a few scratches here and there, but otherwise he was basically untouched. He wiggled his fingers in the form of a wave and I nodded my head back at him.

"Wow, you two look good," Yuna said after a minute of silence. Rikku nodded and shoved another spoonful of ice cream into her mouth. "Are you in any pain?"

"My pride is hurt more than anything," Rikku replied with a shrug, Gippal nodding in agreement. "I was about to kick the pyreflies out of Shuyin, yet three low life thugs were able to take me out. What's up with that?"

"Three?" Yuna asked, sitting in the seat next to Rikku's bed. I shifted Ari in my arms as I watched my wife kick her concern into full gear.

Rikku thought about it for a second then looked over at her boyfriend. "Were there more than that, Gippal? I don't remember."

"There were three big guys and a little guy," Gippal clarified as he bit his lip in thought. "The big guys were the ones who went after us, and the little guy kind of went searching throughout the house. He didn't enter until I was pretty much out of it, so I didn't get a good look at him."

"I was out by this time," Rikku said, mushing her ice cream with her spoon. "Again, my pride is wounded."

"No, it's okay, Rikku," Yuna stated as she put her hand on Rikku's arm. "The odds were against you, they had weapons, and they caught you by surprise. Be thankful that you're here to tell the tale."

"Here's the funny part about this whole thing," Gippal began as he tried to sit up. He winced a little bit from the pain and swallowed once he was in a sitting position.

"You okay?" I asked and started to walk over to him to see if he needed any help.

He flicked his wrist and nodded his head, resulting in me stopping in my tracks. "Yeah, I'm fine. I thought that was going to be a lot easier than it was."

"Continue," Brother said, rushing the poor guy. "What's funny about what?"

"Well, not funny 'ha ha,' but I guess you could call it out of the ordinary. I'm trying to think of the best way to describe it." He rubbed his chin with his hand as he formulated his thoughts. "Maybe if I just ramble for a while things will make sense."

"Go for it," Rikku encouraged as she continued to make her ice cream into soup. "You were awake for more of it than I was, so your information will be a hell of a lot more valuable."

"They knew that Rikku and I were still alive," he stated quietly, Yuna and I listening attentively. "If they wanted to kill us, they definitely could've succeeded because we weren't ready for them to attack us, but instead they just knocked us out. It was more like they wanted us out of the way so baldy could come in and ransack the place."

"Was anything taken?" Yuna asked as she put her hair behind her ears.

Rikku shook her head and put her spoon in her mouth as she spoke. "That's another funny part of this story. Buddy and vydran went back to Gippal's to check everything out and, no, nothing was taken. Nothing noticeable anyway."

"I have a lot of expensive shit in my place too," Gippal explained with a chuckle. He wasn't trying to brag, but he was just stating the truth. Being the Machine Faction leader does bring in some quality gil, I would imagine. "Not just the luxuries of expensive paintings and sculptures, but I'm also talking about important documents."

"What you're trying to say is that you think it was more than a hit and run?" I asked, rubbing Ari on her back. She was starting to fall asleep and I wasn't about to stop her. I looked at Yuna before I continued, but she wasn't paying attention to me, therefore I looked back over at Gippal, who only shrugged again. "Now, what did you say these guys looked like?"

"The three bigger guys were just three big guys in black suits, that's all that I can really say about them," he said with an apologetic shrug. "The little guy though; he was wearing robes of some kind. And he was bald. Damn, the light reflected off of that bastard's head, it was so shiny."

"Bald and robes, eh?" I looked at Yuna again and now she was biting her nails in thought. "That's not a common description, unless…"

Rikku followed my train of thought and nodded. "Yep, that's the number one reason why vydran is pegging this on Yevon. My first intention was to call Baralai and ask him about it, but if Baralai came out here, vydran would try to kill him."

"Where is Uncle Cid, anyway?" Yuna asked as she glanced around the room. "I just realized that he's not here."

"He went to get some coffee, but that was about twenty minutes ago," Gippal replied with a roll of his eyes. "In other words, who the hell knows where he's at."

"Three hundred gil he's out smoking and getting yelled at by the nurses for hazarding his health," Rikku said with a giggle. "Oh well, it wouldn't be the first time it's happened since I've been awake."

With a sigh, Yuna stood up and started to tap her shoe against the linoleum. "So, okay. What are we going to do? I mean, what _can _we do?"

"Are you sure there wasn't anything that someone would be after in your house, Gippal?" I handed the baby over to Yuna and walked closer to Gippal. "You said there were important documents, right? Are there any that someone would want to possess?"

"No, that's the thing," Gippal said, shaking his head. "That's the first thing I thought of, and there just isn't anything that sticks out in my mind. If you want, you guys can go over there and check it out to make sure."

"You said that Cid already went to check everything out and everything was fine though," I mentioned as I crossed my arms. I tapped my fingers on my right hand on my left arm at the same time that I spoke.

"Yeah, true," Gippal stated and tried to lie back down as painlessly as possible. "But I think you two would recognize something that specific people would go after."

Yuna scoffed and stood up. "Just say that you're blaming it on Bevelle too, Gippal. I know that's what you're thinking, so you might as well just come out and say it."

"Not just Bevelle," Gippal began. "I'm talking about Yevon. I trust Baralai, so I don't think it was someone from New Yevon who wanted to see if the Machine Faction was keeping any secrets. Yevon is out of Baralai's control. He would like to think that the days of Yevon are gone, but he should think again."

Hmm, sounds like someone else I know. I refrained from looking at Yuna for I know that she would've only shook her head at me. I heard her sigh and then her cellsphere rang.

"Yunie!" Rikku gasped as Yuna reached to answer it. "You're not supposed to have those turned on in a hospital! What are you thinking!"

"I'll get over it," Yuna replied with a smile as she flipped it open. "Hello?"

"Tsk tsk," Rikku scolded with a shake of her finger. "Someone's gonna get in trouble!"

"Oh, hi Baralai," she said cheerfully with a smile. "I'm doing well, how about yourself?" She paused as Baralai spoke, then she nodded as if he could see her. "That's actually where Tidus and I are now…Yeah, we're in Bikanel. We're thankful to see that Rikku and Gippal are going to be fine."

Gippal's head whipped up, then he instantly put his hand on the back of his head. "Yuna, how does he know what happened? We didn't tell him! And, ow."

"Um, Gippal wants to know how you found out about…oh…" She trailed off and furrowed her forehead. Uh oh. "Okay…yeah…I see…When did this happen?" We were all silent and curious to know what the conversation was about. I didn't like the look on Yuna's face and I could tell that no one else did.

"Let me talk to him," Gippal said, motioning with his fingers for Yuna to give him the phone.

Yuna nodded at Gippal and put a finger up to tell him to wait a second. "That's terrible….I know. Yeah, that would be fine. Okay, Gippal wants to talk to you. Okay…okay…You too. Take care."

She stood up to hand the phone to Gippal then looked back at me with frightened eyes. "Oh this isn't good."

"What happened?" I asked her as she grabbed at her lower lip with her free hand. "Yuna, speak."

"You were what!" Gippal exclaimed into the phone. "What do you mean you were fired!"


	7. An Unpleasant Surprise

**July 26, 2005. Wow, it's been a while since I've updated this fic! I reread the epilogue the other day (it's been done for like two months) and I became intrigued to write some more of this fic. I had a mild case of writer's block on it...but I actually was able to come up with a transition. It's kind of a short chapter, but I like the way I ended it. Okay, I'll eventually update the rest of my fics too...I just haven't had the time. Work owns me this summer (two jobs and 50 hours!), so I'm terribly sorry! I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

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**7. An Unpleasant Surprise**

The news of Baralai being fired from his position as Praetor hit us all hard and none of us were really sure what to do about it. When Gippal handed the phone back to Yuna, she silently put it back in her purse and continued biting at her fingernails. Even though she wasn't going to say it, I knew what she was thinking. Everything was starting to connected and the pieces weren't falling in a place that Yuna liked; everything was pointing at the followers of Yevon.

"Here's what we should do," I said to break the silence that was in the room. "Yuna and I will go back to your place, Gippal, and check it out. You said you had a lot of important documents and the like there, right?"

"Yeah," Gippal said with a nod of his head. "Since we're in the process of moving the Machine Faction Headquarters from Djose to Home, I figured that having all the papers at my place would be a smart idea. Of course, if I knew that Yevonites were going to ransack the place, I would've rethought out my plans."

Yuna glared at Gippal, but before she could snap at him, I spoke up first. "Okay, you guys stay here…well, obviously. Anyway, Yuna and I will make sure that nothing is missing. Do you have a specific place to where everything was, or is everything everywhere?"

"Most of it should be in the study," he replied, rubbing the back of his head in thought. "Yeah, most of it should be in my desk or the filing cabinets. If it's not there, then it's in the bedroom or living room. The problem is, I have so many things that have accumulated over the last few years that there's a lot to go through." He exhaled and shook his head as he searched through his wallet for something. After looking through it, he pulled out the key and held it up for me to grab. "Here's the key to the front door, but I'm afraid that you won't even notice if something's missing."

"We'll try our best," Yuna said, giving Rikku a kiss on the top of her head. "We'll come back in a little while to give you a full report. Is there anything that we should specifically look for, Gippal?"

"You mean something that the stubborn bastards of Yevon would look for?" Yuna was less than appreciative of the addition that Gippal put to her question, but with a shrug, she nodded anyway. "I don't think so. But then again, since Baralai was fired, they must have something against him. Therefore, try to look for anything with Baralai's signature on it."

"Or anything mentioning New Yevon," I said, nodding in understanding as I took the key and put it in my pocket. "Wait, can you draw me a map or directions or something? We haven't seen your new place yet, Gippal."

"Here, I've got it," Rikku said as she quickly scribbled some directions on a napkin that the hospital staff gave her with her ice cream. "These are the best I can do."

Yuna took the paper in her hands and gave it a queer look. "Oh yikes."

"What is it?" I asked, walking over to her to get a good look at the map. "Oh yikes is right."

"What?" Rikku asked, blinking innocently. "Those are perfectly good directions and there isn't a chance that you would get lost from them."

"Oh really?" I asked as I watched Yuna flip the directions upside down in her hands to see if they would make more sense that way. Home was built in a circle, but her directions gave us straight lines as roads. Not to mention that I couldn't read the chocobo scratch that she called handwriting. I looked over at Gippal, who was now holding a piece of paper in his hands.

"Here," he said, shaking his hand. "These will actually get you to my place instead of in the middle of the Bikanel Desert somewhere." Rikku made a face at him and he made one right back at her. They were the oddest couple.

I took the directions from him and smiled. "Hey, check this out! This actually looks like Home!" I showed the directions to Rikku and she only made a face at me this time. I ruffled up her hair and chuckled at her. "Okay, you two take care."

"Oh, and tell Brother we said good-bye as well," Yuna said, blinking at the end of her sentence. "Wait. Where'd he go, anyway?"

"Probably to go find Cid," Gippal suggested as we all looked around. He did sneak off unnoticeably, but oh well. He knew that our luggage was on the Rekrfeht anyway, so we would need to find him again. "Good luck and I hope you find something."

They nodded as we all said our goodbyes, and Yuna, Ari and I walked out of the hospital room. Yuna was quiet again and I could tell that this time it wasn't because of her hospital fear. Once we reached the elevator, she pushed the 'down' arrow then looked up at me.

"Am I being ignorant?" She asked as she gathered up her hair and put it in a ponytail with the hair ties that were around her wrist. "I…don't want to admit that it was Yevon, but who knows, ya know? It might not even be Yevon."

I nodded at her and we entered the elevator. "It might not be, you're right. However, unless some New Yevon Hater Cult is forming somewhere and attacking not only you, but Gippal, Rikku, and Baralai as well…"

"Maybe it's something to deal with New Yevon," she suggested with a shrug. "By the way Baralai was talking, it was more of a mutiny than anything. They all were against him for some reason that they wouldn't even explain to him. It was sudden and he wasn't expecting it. There wasn't any hint that they were unhappy with the way that he was ruling Bevelle."

"Of course there wasn't a hint. That's what a mutiny is, Yuna," I stated, wrapping my free arm around her waist. "What else did Baralai say?"

"Not a whole lot. I could tell that it was something that he wanted to tell us but not go into detail about it." She rested her head against my shoulder and again let out a lengthy sigh. "This is just too much to deal with right now. I guess that since it has been about two years since Spira has had to deal with anything perilous, so it's about time now or…something. I guess the danger card was again picked up by fate."

"I have never seen you so pessimistic and it's worrying me." I didn't mean to say what I was thinking, but the words slipped out. She looked up at me and furrowed her forehead, her eyes asking me to continue. "The whole situation is confusing, I know, but I feel like you know more about this then we do."

"What are you talking about?" She snapped, her lip curling slightly. "Do you think I planned to get shot or something?"

I scoffed at her for twisting my words. "No, you know that' s not what I meant. I simply meant that you've been hiding things from me and now all of a sudden it's all coming at us full force. Do you know _anything_?"

"Tidus, if I knew anything, don't you think I would've tried to solve it by now instead of watching my cousin and her boyfriend get shot and another one of my friends get fired?" She shook her head and I tried to believe her, but I couldn't. I hated doubting her, but I just couldn't help it. But…why would she hide it?

I gave up yet again and we walked the rest of the way to Gippal's place in silence. I put the key in the door and when I heard the lock release, I slowly opened the door. The place was dark, but even though the darkness I could see the disaster that was left of the place. I swallowed hard and flicked the light on.

Yuna closed the door behind us and we had a look around. Furniture was overturned, glass was shattered, and papers were everywhere. I bent over and picked up one of the papers, and at the bottom was Gippal's signature. Yuna and I exchanged a look for that was something that we really didn't want to see.

"Okay," she said as she rubbed her arms with her hands. "I guess this means that they were after some of Gippal's papers. Now I wonder if we'll be able to find out which ones are missing."

We walked through the mess, picking up papers on the way until we found the study. All the books that were once on the bookshelves were now on the floor. I saw Yuna frown when she saw a pile of glass on the floor on one side of the room, and I walked over there with her. The remains of a picture frame were in a pile and Yuna carefully picked up one of the pieces of glass. There was a small piece of paper there and she looked at it.

"Look at you, Detective Yuna," I quipped as she looked at the intricate border on the bit of paper.

"I recognize this," she murmured and looked back at the pile of glass. "There was something in this picture frame and I know what it was."

"What was it?" I asked as she continued to look around the broken picture frame.

"I don't know." I chuckled at her and she looked up at me again. "No, I mean, I've seen it before but I can't put my finger on where. Well, it's gone now."

"Okay, so that's one thing that's missing," I said, making a mental note to myself. "So now the question is, what would be important enough for Gippal to put into a frame and why would someone want to take it?"

"I'm not sure." She inspected the paper once again then put it in her purse. "I'll have to ask Gippal, I'm sure he'd know."

With a nod, we continued to go through the study. It was rather hard to investigate with only one hand because Ari was in the other one, but I didn't want to put her down. There was too much broken glass and other sharp things that she would want to play with. I also couldn't shake the uneasy feeling that was in the air, so it was better if I held onto her and let Yuna do most of the searching. She was better with detective work than I was anyway.

"Hey, look at this," she pointed out when she opened one of the drawers. Inside were hanging files and she was right, something was missing. The files were in alphabetical order, and 'N' file wasn't between the M and O. It was gone. "New Yevon, maybe?"

"Well, that's a nice lead," I stated as I looked on the desk. I saw another file on it, and there wasn't a tab on it, but I started to sift through the pages anyway. "Oh, Yuna…"

"What?" She stood up and watched me go through the pages.

"Look at this," I said, pointing to the signature lines. "These all have Gippal and Nooj's signatures on them. These are between the Machine Faction and The Youth League, but where are the ones with New Yevon?"

Before Yuna was able to say anything, I heard a click of a gun. I looked up in time to see a man pointing one right at us, so I grabbed Yuna by the arm and pulled her down right as the gun went off. The bullet thankfully missed us and shattered the window that was behind Gippal's desk.

"Shit," I whispered as Ari started to cry. I handed the baby to Yuna and looked around for something to attack back with.

"You hold her," Yuna said as she handed Ari back to me, reached into her purse and pulled out one of her guns. Leave it to Yuna to always be prepared. As I quieted down Ari, we both peered over the desk, but the man was gone. "Where'd he go?" She whispered as she made her way around the desk.

"Shh!" I held her arm so she would stop moving and I heard the slow sound of footsteps coming from the living room. They were coming closer and I could feel my pulse start to race. I was more nervous that Ari was with us because there wasn't any way that Yuna and I could both fight with the baby. I also didn't like bringing Ari this close to danger.

Out of instinct, Yuna stood up and fired her gun, hitting the man in the shoulder. He dropped his gun as he grabbed his shoulder and she fired again, this time shooting him right in the stomach. I knew she didn't aim for his heart because she would've hit him there; she hit him just to knock him down. As I consoled Ari, Yuna and I walked over to the fallen man and she put her foot right on the man's chest.

"Lady Yuna," he managed to say between his labored breaths. By the way he was dressed, I could tell that he was a New Yevon soldier, and that made Yuna furious. "How nice it is to see you."

"What do you want with me?" She asked him, aiming her gun at his head. "You were following us all the way from the hospital, weren't you?" He didn't say anything, so she applied more weight with her foot and asked again, "Weren't you?"

"I'm just listening to orders," he replied, a smug smile appearing on his face. "How are you doing, Lady Yuna?"

"In case you haven't noticed, I'm the one with the gun to your head," she snapped. "One wrong move and I'll blast you all the way to the Farplane. I'm the one asking the questions here so things would work out to your advantage if you work with me here."

"I'll never tell you anything," he said, letting out a sickening cough.

"Why are you after Baralai, Gippal, and myself?" Yuna asked, her gaze burning at him. The soldier remained quiet, and I could tell that Yuna was losing her patience. "All right then, who sent you here?"

"You know the answer to that question." My eyes widened at his response and I even saw Yuna falter slightly. She lowered the gun slightly and the soldier only chuckled. Without a word, she regained her posture, aimed the gun again and shot the man, sending a cloud of pyreflies into the air.


	8. Blurry

**So, since it has been almost six months since I've updated this fic, I decided to actually finish the chapter. Actually, when I opened up the document, it was already done! I guess I just wanted to sit on it for a few weeks...but...YAY! FINALLY chapter 8 is up. This fic isn't going to be much longer, I'm thinking three more chapters, including the epilogue. The only thing I have left to write is chapter 9...and I have 10 and the epilogue already finished. THEN I can continue posting _The Little Voice, _because I do have another chapter written for it that I'm rather fond of. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter and I PROMISE never to make you wait this long again!**

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**8. Blurry**

"So, what do we do now?" Rikku asked, verbalizing the question that it was obvious that we were all thinking. None of us even looked at her as she said it; we were all trying to hard to think of what the answer was. Once we got back to the hospital, Yuna told her and Gippal the whole story. She conveniently left out the last thing the soldier said, so I decided to leave it out as well and bring it up with her when she and I were alone. "Okay, let's not all answer at once now."

"I know, Rikku," Yuna finally said as she sighed and stood up. She walked over to me and kissed Ari on the top of her head before speaking again. "I don't think there is anything that we can do except wait it out and see what happens."

"Wait it out?" I couldn't help but pretty much explode at her. I even felt Ariana jump in my arms from the tone in my voice. "Yuna, think logically here."

"I'm trying to!" She cried with a frustrated exhale. As she looked away from me, Ari started to whimper and she grabbed my shirt to get closer to me. I knew she was scared because Yuna and I rarely spoke to each other like that, so I rubbed her back with my hands to calm her down. When I looked back at Yuna, she was rubbing her temples with her fingers and pacing back and forth. "I just don't know! I don't know what's going on. I don't know why things are happening this way! I used to be the level headed person in this kind of a situation and I can't be that person when I can't even think straight!"

"Yunie…" Rikku said quietly to get Yuna's attention. Yuna whipped her head up toward her cousin and shook her head.

"I'm sorry, I just…" She trailed off as she sat back down in the chair by Rikku's bed. "Nothing is making sense and I'm just so confused."

"Everything is making perfect sense and you don't want to admit to it." I am so glad that Gippal was the one who said that and not me. "I've tried to be nice, Yuna, but by the description you gave us, he was a Yevonite, or New Yevonite, or whatever. Yevon's up to something and you know it."

"I wonder if Baralai knows anything," I said, hoping that Yuna wouldn't explode at Gippal. Thankfully, she didn't say anything, but the only responses I received contained shrugging of shoulders. "I guess not, knowing he was fired and all."

"Maybe Nooj knows what's going on," Yuna muttered, looking down at her fingertips. I heard Gippal let out an exasperated sigh and Rikku slumped her shoulders. "You two are getting out the hospital today, right?"

Rikku nodded and looked over at Gippal. "At least that's what they told us while you two were gone. I can't wait to get the hell out of here so I hope it's soon."

"Good," Yuna continued as she resumed her pacing once again. "Okay, so in the mean time, why don't I call up Baralai and we can arrange to meet at Mushroom Rock Road?"

"The Youth League headquarters?" I asked, rubbing my forehead with my fingertips. "Again, I don't mean to be skeptical and all, but do you think that's wise, Yuna? Gippal, Nooj, and Baralai all in the same place? Hell, with you there as well, the Yevonites will strike gold when they find out where you are."

"Not if they don't find out where we are," she pointed out with a sigh. "Besides, we'll have strength in numbers. It'll be all of us and the members of the Youth League if anyone wants to cause trouble."

"All right," I said reluctantly, adjusting Ari on my hip. "Well, why don't we go call Nooj? Rikku and Gippal, you two can catch up with us when you get out."

Rikku nodded and said, "Works for me! It shouldn't be too long! I think the nurses said they would check up with us at about six and it's five thirty now. We can give you a call when we're given the okay."

"We'll keep in touch," she said, holding up her sphere cell for emphasis. "Take care."

I opened the door for Yuna and remained quiet the entire way to the elevator. What was I to say? I had a tendency to open my mouth and say the wrong things at the wrong time, so I made the right choice to stay quiet. Yuna was so on edge that she would've leaped 12 feet in the air if a leaf brushed her shoulder. It was odd to see her with that look on her face.

"Say it, Tidus," she said softly, not looking at me at all. In fact, she kept her arms crossed and her gaze on the elevator doors as they opened. She wasn't angry at me; quite the opposite really. I gave her a quizzical look and followed her into the elevator. "Please, tell me I'm being irrational and not thinking clearly."

She rested her head on my shoulder, so I put my free arm around her and kissed her on the forehead. "I'm not going to say anything."

"Just…I thought this was for the best," she began with a sigh. "For so long I've tried to stay out of trouble, ya know? It just seems like every time I try to jump into something, the problems spiral. Everything gets worse, people get hurt, people…die."

I didn't want to agree with her, but she had an excellent point. It might have been just a coincidence, but whenever she wanted to be the hero, it ended up with her getting more involved than she wanted to be. First it was during her Pilgrimage, then with Shuyin and Lenne…twice actually. Although it always worked out in the end, that _also_ could've been a lucky coincidence.

"I thought that if I stayed out of it this time, nothing bad would happen." She puffed out cheeks as she exhaled again. "But now I feel as though my plan backfired and everything's a million times worse. I feel like, if I don't do anything, more people will die."

"Yuna," I said, resting my chin on the top of her head. "Tell me honestly; do you know what's going on?"

"I…" She stuttered and backed away from me. "Tidus, I…I don't want to make judgments, but I do think I have an idea…" Before she could finish, the elevator bell went off and the doors flew open.

"Hey, you two!"

Yuna and I both jumped at the sound of Baralai's voice, and Ari let out a cry in surprise when I almost dropped her. I whipped my head up to see he and Paine get ready to walk onto the elevator. I was so enthralled in the conversation that I wasn't paying any attention to anything else. "Baralai," I said, putting my hand over my heart. "What are you doing here?"

"It's not like I have a job to take care of or anything." He tried to make a joke, but none of us laughed. Clearing his throat, he put his hand on the door of the elevator to keep it open so Yuna and I could walk out. "We thought we would come here to check out how Gippal and Rikku are doing. We heard what happened."

"How are they?" Paine asked as we walked into the foyer of the hospital.

Yuna shrugged and sighed. "I think they're going to be fine. However, I'm a little nervous about what happened with Gippal's place. Several documents were missing."

"Documents?" Baralai asked, his forehead furrowing. "That's not good. Was Gippal able to see which ones were taken?"

"No," she replied with a shake of her head. "Tidus and I went back there to see if we could find anything, but I couldn't tell. I don't know his documents well enough and I really shouldn't. It's none of my business. However, I wish I knew what was taken."

"I'm really starting to believe that all the signs point to Yevon," I piped up, receiving a not appreciative look from my wife.

"I have to agree with you, Tidus," Baralai said as he looked at me. Yuna whipped her head at him, so he put his hand on her shoulder. "Yeah."

I bit my lower lip as my mind started to work. "Are you trying to say that you know who fired you?"

"Yeah, I do." His face turned grim and I could see him grit his teeth. "Yuna, do you remember when New Yevon first started and we had to kick out the first Praetor?"

Her face froze as she blankly blinked at him. "I…Yes. He wanted me to marry his son after the defeat of Sin."

"He's the one who overthrew me," he explained. I thought Yuna was going to pass out, so I handed Ari to Paine so I could hold up my wife. "What is it?"

"Those letters…everything…I was right." Baralai narrowed his eyes at my wife's ramblings, so she shook her head. "Father Zoram. He's the one who's doing all this!"

"I don't understand why he would want to ruin New Yevon, The Youth League, and The Machine Faction," I stated, putting my hands on Yuna's shoulders. "It just doesn't make any sense if the only thing he was interested in was taking his job back."

"The thing that doesn't make sense to me is the fact that we threw him out because he craved too much power, and now everyone is back on his side for some strange reason." Baralai said with a shrug. "But it doesn't surprise me that he wants to take over New Yevon and its allies. If he can do that, he has all of Spira in the palm of his hand. I'm sure that's his master plan."

"Well, yeah, but…" Yuna said, looking down at her feet. We all turned our attention toward her and she exhaled slowly. "He...He doesn't want to do it alone."

"What do you mean?" I asked her, my voice drawn out.

She shook her head and looked up at me. "Let's go back to Besaid. I need to get a few things."

"Wait a minute, Yuna," Paine said, shifting Ari to her other hip. "Get what?"

"What happened to wanting to go to Mushroom Rock?" I asked, confusion clear on my face when Yuna reached out her hands for Ari. "You've wanted to go to Mushroom Rock for the past year to sign that treaty anyway."

"The…" Her eyes went wide and she gasped. "The Treaty!"

"Yes?" I asked, blinking.

She threw the baby in my arms, grabbed her purse and started to go through things until she brought out a tiny piece of paper. Practically shoving it in Baralai's face, she started to shake. "Isn't this the border of the treaty that you, Baralai, and Nooj signed last year?"

Taking the paper in his hand, he investigated it. "Yeah, it is. It's ripped though." Keeping his head pointed toward it, he lifted his eyes so he could see Yuna. "Where did you find this?"

"Why did he take the treaty?" She asked, looking at me with wide eyes. "I don't understand. The treaty was missing from Gippal's wall and I found this piece of paper sticking out of a picture frame. It's clear that he took it for some reason, but I'm not sure what that reason is."

Scratching the back of his head, Baralai shrugged. "Who knows? But we've got to get to the bottom of this." He handed the paper back to Yuna as he exhaled the breath that he was holding.

"Like I said, let's go back to Besaid and see if Lulu and Wakka can take care of Ari for a few days and then we can go to Bevelle," Yuna mumbled, her hands nervously smoothing her shirt. Turning on her heel she started to walk back into the elevator. "That way we won't have to worry about the baby. You guys can stay here while I tell Gippal and Rikku what we're up to so they can catch up with us. I'm not sure how this is going to work out, so I want everyone to be there in case we need back up."

"Yuna," Paine started, arms crossed over her chest like usual. She waited until Yuna looked up and then continued with, "You're not hiding anything, are you?"

Maybe it was the fact that they were in the Gullwings with each other for a period of time, but Paine could read Yuna like a book. She nailed it right on the nose and knew it. Her gaze didn't lessen as she stared down Yuna and she waited patiently for a response. Unfortunately, the only response Paine received was Yuna pushing the button in the elevator that would take her to the floor where Rikku and Gippal were staying. "I'll be down in a few minutes with Brother," she said softly as the doors closed.

"What the hell?" Paine questioned, looking at me. "What's up with her?"

"Let her go," I told her with a lengthy sigh. "She doesn't like hospitals as it is, so she probably wants to go to Besaid in an attempt to get out of here as quickly as possible."

"That's not what I meant," she clarified. "She's up to something."

Baralai let out a chuckle and brushed his hair out of his eyes. "I think that's pretty obvious to all of us. I guess there's nothing we can do but question her about it on the way."

"Yeah, I agree. Unfortunately, I don't think she'll tell us all that much and that's what concerns me," I muttered as I eyed the two of them. After an awkward silence between the three of us, I pointed to the door. "Oh well. Let's wait outside for her." Paine and Baralai nodded, so we silently walked out of the hospital to wait for Yuna.


	9. The Point Of No Return

**May 3rd, 2006. I'm not dead, I swear. I can't express the amount of writers block that I have had these past few months, specifically on this fic. Between being in two different rps and school this semester, I have been extremely busy and haven't had a lot of time to write. However, these past few days have been like a writing spree for me, and I'm so extremely happy that I can't explain it. (But it does explain why I updated three chapters in this fic and two new fics!) **

**As for this fic, I knew that I already had the final chapter and the majority of the epilogue written for MONTHS, but this chapter... wow. I just couldn't find the right words for it and stuff... until today. I spent a very long time on it (from about 2pm until an hour ago, 1pm) and I think it turned out all right. Not the best chapter in the fic... my favorite is definitely the next chapter. Anyway, it gets the point across and connects the previous chapter with the next one! I hope you enjoy the rest of the fic!**

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**9. The Point Of No Return**

Baralai, Paine and I ended up waiting in the lobby a lot longer than we expected, but when Yuna showed back up, she came out with Rikku and Gippal. Rikku looked as though she was happy enough to hop up and down in joy for being out of that bed and there was even a little bounce in her step. The bandage around her head was removed, so all she was left with was a few cuts and bruises… and of course, plenty of energy as always. Gippal seemed to be a little worse off; he looked as though he was still in a little bit of pain and had a few bandages on his limbs, but for the most part they both fine, which was a relief. They had only been in the hospital for a day and they were already able to go home.

I looked at my watch and smirked as Ari squealed at the sight of Rikku. I handed the baby to her and said, "Wow, so they let you two out after all. What did Yuna have to say to bail you out?"

"You're making it sound like we were doing time in jail or something," Gippal said, scratching his arm where a bandage was wrapped securely. "Yuna just came back when the nurse wanted to check up on us and Blondie over here whined so much that she checked us over and decided that we could be released."

"I didn't whine, I suggested," Rikku clarified, bouncing the baby on her hip. Everyone knew that Rikku was getting cabin fever by staying in that room for a while and that she would do basically anything to be able to leave, which included whining. I wouldn't have put it passed her. "They're making us go back in for a check up in a few days though just to make sure that we're still okay and our wounds are healing well."

Gippal continued to scratch his arm, then made a face as he started to take off the bandaging. "I don't know why they made me keep this on, I'm not really hurt. Not to mention that it itches like hell."

Rikku gave him a playful glare and poked at the cut that he had around his arm when it was exposed, causing him to withdraw his arm and gasp. "I thought you said you weren't hurt, you baby."

"All right, all right, I'll keep it wrapped up but it's really annoying." He handed the bandage back to Rikku and she helped him wrap it around his arm again. Looking back up at Paine, Baralai and I, he continued. "Anyway, Cid and Brother went out the back way to grab the Rekrfeht and said they'd meet us by the entrance in a bit. Plus, since we're out now, we can go with you guys to Besaid."

"We won't have to stay there long," Yuna stated quickly, walking up to me and motioning toward the area where the Rekrfeht would meet us. "I just need to quickly grab some things, drop Ari off at Lulu and Wakka's, and then we can be on our merry way to Bevelle so we can confront Father Zoram."

I opened my mouth several times to say something, yet I wasn't sure how to form the words without sounding like I had a decent plan. Then again, it didn't seem as though Yuna had one either. After Paine gave me a look that I had gone completely insane by moving my mouth like that and not saying anything, I managed to find my voice. "Okay, so we're going to go find Father Zoram, and then what? What are we going to say to him? You can't just go in there and expect him to confess for everything that he has done."

"He's expecting me to show up."

I stopped in my tracks and I noticed that Rikku did as well. "That doesn't sound very comforting, Yunie…"

"I know, but it's the truth." She stopped walking and shrugged when she faced us all. "I told you that he's been sending me letters. Tidus, you even saw one of them and brought it to me at the hospital."

With a nod, I said, "Yes, that's true, and you promptly ripped it up into a million pieces." Crossing my arms against my chest, I continued, "but all it said was 'soon.' Soon what? It was more of a subliminal message than anything. It could've meant a lot of things"

"It was one that he sent last week." Again another really short reply, so I put my hand on her shoulder. Before I was able to say anything, she shook her head and continued walking. "Don't worry about it. The important thing is that we know that the same man fired Baralai, attacked Gippal and Rikku, and shot at me, so now we go take him down. That's what we do, remember? "

"You can't just go into a situation like this without a plan, Yuna," Baralai said looking between Yuna and I. "It would be like walking into a trap."

"I have a plan," she informed us. We all gave her looks to elaborate on said plan, so she sighed and said, "We drop off Ari, go to Bevelle, confront Father Zoram and then kill him." Letting a small smirk appear on her lips, she chuckled. "Come on, you guys, it's not that difficult of a concept."

I certainly wasn't convinced, and I could tell that the other four people around me weren't either. Unfortunately, before anyone was able to say anything, Brother and Cid began to land the Rekrfeht down. Even if someone was going to say something, no one would've been able to hear it over the roar of the engines and wind.

Ari scrunched up her face at the wind, so Yuna took her from Rikku and put her on her hip to calm her down a little bit. Once the ramp was put down, we all made our way up to the bridge and started toward Besaid. It was a very quiet ride there, for no one wanted to say anything. We all had things on our mind, but no one said anything. Plus, Gippal and Rikku took turns showering so that reduced the noise as well. I love them both dearly, but when they aren't joking around with each other, they're arguing with Brother or Cid.

I was actually rather surprised when Brother said that we were in Besaid already, but before I was able to do anything, Yuna grabbed Ariana and said, "Okay, I'll take Ari with me and I'll be right back." Without another word, she began running toward the house before I was able to protest.

"Well then," Paine drawled as she, Baralai, and I watched Yuna until she was out of sight. "She is something else today."

"I don't know about you guys, but I just don't feel right about this," I said softly. Baralai nodded slowly, then let out a sigh. She could've at least told me to ask Lulu and Wakka to watch Ari while Yuna ran into the house, but I didn't get a chance to say anything. Yuna's plans had too many glitches in it and too many things could've gone wrong, and that made me rather nervous.

I watched Baralai lean against the wall of the bridge out of the corner of my eye, and he said, "I have a very strong feeling that she knows more about this whole ordeal than she's telling us."

"I _know_ she knows more about it than she's telling us." I let out a soft, frustrated 'tch.' "It seems like whenever I try to get more information out of her, she just grows more on edge and more determined to finish this. It's odd."

"It is," Paine muttered, walking over by Baralai and sitting down. "She's usually the first one to be all excited for teamwork and it's unlike her to want to do something solo."

Walking away from the exit a few feet so I wouldn't stare off and wait to see her again so quickly, I tapped my fingers against my arms. "It's obvious that she's trying to hide something from us all, but I just can't find the reason to why. She usually tells me everything."

"There's nothing we can do about at the moment, so we might as well just wait until she gets back," Baralai stated and I agreed with a nod. "Then we can drill her with the questions or at least ask her to go more in detail with her plan."

"That is, if she will go into detail." Paine had a point, but we didn't have any choice but to sit there and wait.

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"She's… been gone for a while," I said, looking down at my watch for the fifth time that minute. It had been about twenty minutes since she left the Rekrfeht, and I was surprised that I was able to wait for that long without freaking out and seeing what was taking so long. However, now I couldn't push that aching feeling back that something happened. "I know that she and Lulu like to talk, but I doubt that Yuna would want to be very talkative when she's in this kind of a mood."

Baralai nodded and had a quick look around the airship. We were the only two on the bridge now; Brother and Cid were in the engine room to make sure that everything was orderly, and Rikku, Paine, and Gippal were in the cabin so Rikku could rebandage him properly. When his eyes met mine again, he didn't even wait for my confirmation as he walked toward the ramp and said, "We should probably go make sure that everything is all right."

We both half walked, half ran toward the house, not Lulu and Wakka's, and my pulse continued to race. I could see that the lights were on in nearly every room and I could see that the door was opened a crack. Baralai and I exchanged looks and I muttered, "this doesn't look good, but I think that goes without saying." I slowly put the palm of my hand against the door and pushed it open.

I froze in my spot when I saw the condition of the house. It was a complete mess… much like Gippal's apartment looked after the attack on he and Rikku. Furniture was overturned, small knickknacks broken on the floor, books and papers everywhere. It didn't take a genius to recognize the brush work in this job; they liked to make sure that they made their appearance known.

"What…happened?" Baralai was the first to find words, but it was exactly what I was thinking. Unfortunately, I knew the answer, but I didn't want to believe it. I think the same went for Baralai.

After finally finding control of my limbs, I rushed upstairs to see if I could find my wife or daughter. I had to hope that they were still in the house somewhere and this happened while we were in Bikinel, but deep in my heart I knew that I was just wasting time by trying to find them. They were probably halfway to the Bevelle temple by now, the Yevonites who took her laughing at how long it took us to realize what happened.

I opened the bedroom door and saw that the room was in the same condition as the downstairs. Obviously, there was a fight but I wasn't surprised. Yuna never would let herself be taken willingly, but I knew that they must've been waiting for her to return. Thinking about it, I started to put some pieces together and walked toward the dresser. Everything was thrown out, and it was clear to me that the black box that was in that dresser was taken as well.

Something caught my eye on the right side of the room and I saw that there was an abundance of papers on the floor of the closet. Narrowing my eyes, I went over there, knelt down and began looking at them. They were all like the letters that I found before; most in the thick envelope that they came in, but some of them were separated from the envelope and loose. I picked one up, and in the same script as before stated, 'Or Else.' I scoffed and mumbled, "What are you, Zoram, six?"

I tossed the paper over my shoulder as Baralai walked in and shook his head. "I looked in both bedrooms. There's no one's here."

"No," I said as I stood up and bit at my lower lip. I looked on the bed to see another piece of paper, so I walked over to it and picked it up. This one said, 'Bevelle Temple.' Crumpling up the paper with one hand, I set my jaw and said, "Let's go back the Rekrfeht. We're going to Bevelle."

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It didn't take us long to arrive at Bevelle, and for that I was thankful. Cid and Brother parked the Rekrfeht far enough away from the city so we wouldn't be heard, and Rikku, Gippal, Paine, Baralai, and I walked the rest of the way. Before entering the city, we stopped several yards away from the Highbridge and peered around the wall. With a sigh, I looked at the front gate of the Bevelle Temple; it was heavily guarded but it wasn't exactly a shock. There had to be about twenty-five guards directly in front of the entrance, not to mention the thirty or so on the balconies, each armed with a semiautomatic gun. I also heard Baralai sigh, so I nodded in the direction of the guards. "Zoram's doing?"

"You know it," he stated, shaking his head at the sight. "I never had this many guards on duty… period, let alone all at the front door like that, it's not needed. Even when we were filtering things when all the mysterious letters were appearing, I didn't want more guards because it would cause alarm for the citizens of Spira. They would think that there was a problem and there wasn't a need for mass chaos when we didn't have any proof that something was wrong." Tapping his fingers against his hip, a small smirk appeared on his face. "It's a little too stereotypical though; all those guards for extra security to make sure that one can breech the barrier. It's proof that he's up to something."

Paine scoffed and said, "Perhaps he was reading _Villainy for Dummies_ while he wasn't planning the mutiny, Lai."

"He skipped the 'How To Be Evil, Yet Subtle' chapter," I murmured, too worried about Yuna's safety to truly be entertained by Paine's smart ass remarks.

Rikku nodded and looked at the garment grid attached to her hip. "Right now he might as well just have a flashing neon light sign pointing to the temple that flashes, 'I have the High Summoner in here, ha ha!'"

"Well, it's a good thing for us," Gippal said, patting Rikku on the back gently. "At least we know that this is where they took Yuna and Ariana."

"Yeah, now the question is," I began, exhaling and watching the guarded entrance carefully. "How the hell do we get in there without getting caught? There's no way that we can all go in there at the same time; it would look too suspicious and we'd be spotted instantly."

"Think we can take them all on?" Rikku asked, inspecting the twin swords in her hands.

Baralai shook his head. "Even if we could, someone would probably let Zoram know that we were going in there to get Yuna back out."

"He would be a moron to not think that we would come in after her," Paine added, putting her hands on her hips.

Rikku brushed a tendril of hair out of her face before pointing her finger in thought. "Then again, you are talking about the man who sealed all the envelopes to Yuna with a wax stamp in the shape of the sign of Yevon. Not the smartest chocobo in the herd."

"And that note did say to go to the Bevelle Temple," Gippal pointed out. "When you think about it, it was basically bait to get us here."

"I wonder if those were his intentions," Baralai said under his breath, the four of them looking around to make sure that no one was around to hear them.

"I'm assuming that it was." I shrugged my shoulders and kept my hand on the hilt of my sword. I was hoping that I wasn't going to have to pull it out any time soon for it had been quite a while since I used it last. Two years, actually. "It worked anyway. But, now we have to get in there somehow. Anyone have any ideas that would work? You know, that doesn't involve dying in the process?"

Baralai bit on the inside of his cheek for a second and then nodded his head. "The Via Purifico."

Lifting up my head, I asked, "You think that'll work?"

"Why not? I mean, it's technically the prison of Bevelle and I'm sure Zoram didn't guard it as heavily as the front entrance. He probably underestimates us and thinks that we'd try to go through the front door and not think of alternate options," he thought, looking down into the water next to the Highbridge.

"It's been a few years, but from what I remember, it wasn't all that hard to navigate my way around down there." I looked at Rikku and she nodded. Between her, Wakka, and I, we were able to get out of there in about a half hour. Of course, someone who wasn't a blitz player or spent a large majority of their life training to hold their breath for long periods of time wouldn't have made it that way, but we three didn't have a problem at all. "Heh, sounds like a plan. All right then."

I started to walk toward the Highbridge, but Rikku and Gippal began to follow me. Turning around, I shook my head and said, "No, you guys stay here with Baralai and Paine."

"What are you talking about?" She asked, putting her hands on her hips. "Gippal and I are the only ones besides you who can hold our breath long enough to go down there, and strength in numbers is going to be the way to do this."

Paine scoffed and walked a few steps closer to us as well, "and what are Baralai and I supposed to do in the mean time? Stay here, knit, and wait to see how dead you guys end up? I think not."

"Look, you four need to band together and find another way into the temple while I go in through the Via Purifico. I don't think it'll be as bad once I get inside and I can handle an occasional guard by myself." At least I hoped that was the case. Looking up, I continued, "Baralai, you were Praetor, you know the place pretty well, don't you?"

He nodded. "I know every inch of the place."

"Meaning you know the hidden passageways, correct?" Again, he nodded. "Good. The Via Purifico is a direct route, so there must be more. Find another one, a _safe _one, and if you can't, you guys can just wait here."

"We'll find something," Baralai said quickly, probably because he didn't want to sit around and wait to see what was going to happen, or argue with me some more about it. Whether it was a really stupid idea or not, I wasn't going to let them come with me and the longer we stood out here and argued about it, the bigger the chance was that Yuna and Ariana would be harmed. "We have our cell phones on us in case you need anything."

Patting my pocket to motion that I had mine on me as well, I began walking toward the Highbridge again. Looking over my shoulder, I informed them, "I'm coming back in an hour or I'm not coming back." They nodded and then I dove into the water to enter the Via Purifico.


	10. Checkmate

**May 3rd, 2006. It's so funny that I'm finally posting this chapter. I finished this chapter the same week that I wrote the first chapter, and that was in JUNE. I'm so sorry that it took forever to finish it, but like I said, I had a hell of a time coming up with what I wanted to write in the previous chapter. Anyway, I love this chapter. Whenever I needed inspiration for other chapters, I simply picked up this one and reread it, giving me direction of where to go with it. It's really long, but it's because I kept on adding onto it as the months went by. I hope you enjoy it as well. **

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**10. Checkmate**

"This is great, Tidus. You just had to go out and try to get yourself killed, didn't you?" I murmured to myself as I hid from a priest who was walking around one of the hallways. I was still slightly wet from swimming in the Via Purifico for twenty minutes, but I wasn't too worried about leaving a water trail because I wasn't planning on staying in the temple all that long. I wasn't even sure what was guiding me, but I knew that I had to find this Father Zoram and I had to find him fast.

"Going somewhere?"

I whipped around to see a priest with a gun pointed directly toward my head and I gasped. "Apparently not," I said in disbelief as several armed guards appeared behind the man. I wasn't surprised that a priest was armed, for it wasn't the first time I had seen a priest with a gun. I would still be lying if I said it was only the second time I've seen it happen, but it still didn't change the fact that I couldn't take my eyes off of it.

"I know who you are," the priest stated with a chuckle and without putting down his weapon. "You're the High Summoner's husband. Tedum, wasn't it?"

"Tidus," I corrected him and put my hand on the hilt of my sword that was at my hip.

"Ah, my mistake. Well, _Tidus, _I wouldn't touch your weapon if I were you," he warned as the guards aimed their guns at me as well. I was clearly surrounded and out of ideas. I knew I wouldn't be able to take them all on without some back up, and since my 'back up' was trying to find another way into the temple and didn't know where I was, I was screwed.

"I don't have anything better to do," I replied with a nervous chuckle. "Well, um, since I am around a bunch of guards, I'm assuming that one of you all know Father Zoram? Can you tell me where I can find him?"

"I _am_ Father Zoram." The way he said that chilled my blood and made my skin break out into goosebumps. I don't know why; the man was about five inches shorter than my 5'9" build and I had more than twice the amount of muscles. Then again, it could've been the very big gun that was aimed at my head.

"Ah, it's a pleasure to meet the man who tried to kill my wife last week," I retorted sarcastically as I frowned. "Since that didn't work, you decided to go after every person that she knew except me. So, does that mean that you have some kind of vendetta against my life?"

"Hmm, _your_ life?" He asked me as I nodded and pulled out my sword, even though he warned me not to. With a wave of his fingers, several of the guards moved in on me and knocked my sword out of my hand before I could think twice. While I watched my sword slide across the tiled floor, several other guards grabbed my arms. Now I was unarmed _and_ unable to move.

Yep. I was in trouble.

"What the hell do you want with me?" I snapped as he turned around and motioned the guards to follow him. I struggled, but it was no use. Father Zoram might have been shorter than I, but the guards were all pushing 6 foot and 280 pounds, and there wasn't a chance I would be able to escape from them. "Okay, if you're not going to answer that question, answer this one; where the hell are you taking me?"

"Follow me," he said as I rolled my eyes. I didn't have a choice _but _to follow him.

The guards half dragged, half walked me to where Father Zoram was standing, and I felt as if I were marching to my own death. He cautiously looked around before moving a picture to the side, revealing a small lever. With a grunt, he pulled it and the wall started to slide open. My eyes went wide as he walked through the opening and I felt my pulse race as the guards brought me in right after him.

The wall shut after we passed through it and I prayed that there was a way out. Well, I actually hoped that I would be alive after so I would get a chance to find if there was a way out. I had no idea where they were taking me and I could feel myself becoming more and more frightened.

We entered a room that was so stark white that I felt I was going to be blinded. I squinted as they turned on another light that seemed to reflect off the walls. It was excruciating. The only thing that wasn't white in the room, besides clothing that everyone was wearing, were the bars of the jail cells that lined one of the rooms, which they promptly threw me in.

"This just proves how weak you are," I shot at them as they bolted the door shut. I grabbed at the bars and regretted it the second I did; they were charged with some form of electricity and zapped me. I yelped and jumped back as quickly as I could, but my hands felt numb for a few seconds.

"Weak?" Zoram asked me as he walked closer to me. I noticed that he had a rectangular black box in his hands and I raised an eyebrow at it. It closely resembled the box that I found in Yuna's drawer the night that she was shot. "In case you haven't noticed, we're the ones in charge of you right now. I don't think going against our wishes is such a good idea."

"You had to put me behind bars to tell me that. That proves your weakness," I informed him as he shrugged his shoulders. "You never answered my question; what the hell do you want with me?"

"You?" He repeated as he started to chuckle.

I almost reached for the bars again, but then realized that probably wasn't a good idea unless I wanted to get totally fried. It wasn't on my top ten things to do before I turned twenty-two, so instead I gritted my teeth and clenched my fists at my sides. "What the hell is so funny?"

He put the box through the bars and I reached for it, holding it in my hands but afraid to open it. "Aren't you dying to know what's inside?"

"'Dying' is the operative word in that sentence," I stated slowly as I tried to study the man. He gestured toward the box again, but I only fixed my gaze.

"In case you haven't noticed, that is the same little box that we gave your wife several weeks ago. We found it in her drawer when we went back and decided that it was ours to begin with, it was only right to take it back." I knew it. I looked down at it again and started to open it, but I just couldn't. "It was a present from us to her, but apparently she didn't want it. Pity, too."

Intrigued, I finally opened the box. Inside was a gun that looked a lot like the ones from Yuna's Gunner dressphere, only it was black instead of gray. I picked it up and realized that there was only one bullet in it. "Gee, thanks, but I'm more of a swordsman than a gunner."

"Another pity," Zoram drawled as I turned it around in my hand several times. "But at least you can use it, right?"

I didn't want to answer him right away for I knew I was more than capable. I did have a decent shot when not put under pressure. "Why did you give this to Yuna?"

"We wanted to see what she would do with it," he replied with another chuckle. Actually, I would categorize it as an evil cackle.

I set my jaw as I thought about his sentence. Yuna being shot, her and Ari being kidnapped, Rikku and Gippal being sent to the hospital, Baralai getting fired…I was fine. Everything was falling into place and I didn't like where that place was. Everything was pointing directly toward me, wasn't it?

But why?

I looked up at Zoram and he continued to laugh. I was his target. I was the one he was after all this time. Was it because the fayth recreated me even though Sin was destroyed? Did they even know I was a dream of the fayth? That information was never spread throughout Spira…was it? If anything, all that was said was I was the mysterious blitzball player from the Zanarkand Abes.

I aimed the gun right at Zoram, and he didn't flinch. "All right then. I see your motives."

"You do?" He asked me with a sigh. "It's about time. You're really slow, boy, you know that? We thought that the High Summoner would've picked out someone better as a husband."

"Let's finish this, Zoram," I stated through my clenched teeth. "Let's finish this right now. You…and me."

"Wait, you think this entire thing was about _you_?" I didn't like the way he said that and it caused me to lower the gun and narrow my eyes at him. He scoffed and shook his head in disappointment. "Now only are you slow, but you're self centered as well."

"What are you talking about?" I asked, regaining my posture. I didn't want to show him that he shocked the hell out of me. I thought my reasoning was right…but apparently not.

"This wasn't about you. This was _never _about you," he said as he turned away from me. He snapped his fingers and two of the guards nodded and pushed part of the wall, which were apparently buttons. They camouflaged into the wall very well and I never would've been able to differentiate the wall from the buttons.

The buttons caused one of the walls to slowly move, revealing another room containing another jail cell and more guards. There was someone in the jail cell, sitting on the floor with their back toward my direction, and I gasped. I could recognize that hair style in the dark.

"Yuna!" I yelled as I aimed the gun at Zoram again. She was awake, so she quickly turned around to see what was going on.

"Tidus!" She stood up and held onto the bars—thankfully the bars weren't charged like mine were. "Don't listen to them! I'll be fine!"

"Aww, husband and wife are reunited!" Zoram said in mock excitement as turned on his heel toward the guards by Yuna's cell. "But not for long."

"You let her go, you son of a bitch!" I aimed my gun again and right before I pulled the trigger, some of the guards unlocked Yuna's cell and dragged her out closer to me. I was confused, so again I lowered the gun. "Yuna, you're okay!"

"Yeah, she's fine for now," Zoram said, answering for Yuna. She shot him a dirty look, but he ignored her and faced back at me. "Now, you listen to me."

"As long as you don't harm Yuna, I'll listen to you as long as you'd damn please," I replied as I looked at Yuna's appearance. She obtained several scratches, her hair was disheveled, but otherwise she looked untouched, so that calmed me down a little bit.

"This is just the part that I love," he explained with a happy sigh. He tapped his fingers together as he spoke, relishing in the moment. "All the pieces are in my control and there is one little pawn left. Okay, maybe I lied, this is slightly about you, Taydus."

"It's _Tidus,_" I snapped with a scoff. I didn't think that my name was that hard to remember, then again he was old and, well, evil, so I guess that explained a lot. "Again for the millionth time, what are you talking about?"

"The last pawn in my game," he reiterated with a sardonic smile. Yuna whipped her head toward him as she tried to struggle free of the guard's grasp. He walked over to her and ran his fingers through her hair, receiving a rather disgusted look from her. She tried to bite him, so he yelped and moved his hand out of the way. "Fiery, aren't ya?"

She huffed at him, her eyes full of anger. I have never seen that look in her eyes and it terrified me more than the thirty guards that were surrounding us. "You let my husband and I go!"

"What's your hurry? He just got here!" Zoram said as he snapped his fingers yet again. Nothing happened for a while, so he snapped them quite a few times until a guard holding something ran toward us. It only took me a second to realize what it was that he was holding.

"Ariana!" I yelled as she looked toward me. She squealed with delight and bounced in the guard's arms, yet didn't want to come to me. She had a stuffed moogle in her hands and it was amusing her greatly.

"What do you want with our child?" Yuna asked as she tried to struggle against the guards' grip.

"I just wanted to let you two know that you have the friendliest baby," Zoram stated and walked over to her. He pinched her cheek, and although she made a face—she hated that—she continued to play with her toy and didn't make a fuss. "We simply walked up to her and bribed her with the moogle. No crying, no screaming, nothing. She's a sweetie. I'm just surprised that she doesn't talk yet. She does look old enough to do so."

"Why the hell do you want all of us here?" I questioned, still holding the gun in my hands.

"I can't decide if you're intuitive or just annoying," Zoram said with another amused laugh. "So many questions!"

I wasn't amused, so I snapped, "If you answer them, I'll stop asking!" My patience was running thin, mainly because I had no idea where he was going with any of this.

"Very well. This is the point where you come in, Tayde." I wasn't about to correct him a third time, so I simply scoffed as he walked closer to me. "Your wife, as beautiful as she is, refused to marry me for some reason. I just can't put my finger on the reason why."

"Well, gee, let's think about the reasons," she interrupted with a sarcastic laugh, her eyes shooting daggers at the old man. "Actually, I think the fact that you're _insane_ covers it all."

Instead of replying to her, he walked right up to her and smacked her across the face. She didn't protest or make a scene, that's not in her nature. She simply looked back at him and glared.

Well, Yuna wasn't one to make a scene, but I was… especially under those circumstances. That was the last damn straw. "Didn't you learn your lesson the last time she tried to marry a man of Yevon?" I shot out at him, sparking his memory of the Grand Maester Seymour. Yeah, 'grand,' my ass. "Not only did the rest of her guardians and I interrupt their wedding, but we ended up killing him. Four damn times! So I'm the last pawn in your game! So what? What does that mean?"

"It means this, O Impatient One," Zoram retorted with another snap of his fingers. This time, one of the guards pointed a gun right at Ariana and the rest pointed their guns at me.

"Ari!" Yuna cried as I gasped.

"You'd kill an innocent child!" I asked in complete disbelief that this was happening to me at this moment. I wanted to wake up from this horrible nightmare, but by the way my hands were trembling as I held the gun, I could tell that I wasn't asleep.

"Well, that's solely up to you," Zoram stated with a mocking chuckle. "Go ahead."

"Go ahead?" I repeated in shock. "Are you telling me that I get to shoot anyone in this room? Well, that's a hard decision."

"If you shoot me, you and your daughter both die," he informed me as I pointed my gun right at him. My finger hesitated on the trigger as sweat started to bead on my forehead from nerves. "Hmm. Now that I think about it, we might just kill your wife at the same time. You would think I would have the rules and guidelines already made up since this is my game and all."

"You brought me here to kill my own wife?" I asked in total disbelief that this was happening to me.

"Tidus, do what you have to do, but please don't let them kill Ari." I knew she was going to say that, but I wasn't about ready to kill her. I would sooner shoot myself before I would take a shot at her. I was thinking about doing just that, but what would happen to Ari and Yuna afterward?

"At first we wanted her to marry me, but that didn't work. So then we tried plan B, which was how we wanted her to kill herself, but that didn't happen either. Therefore, we decided to make you do it, making it plan C." Zoram laughed again and I put the gun down. "Not only that, but if you shoot the High Summoner, you'd be spending the rest of your life in a tiny cell or they would give you the death sentence. You would be out of my way, and hey, that would make me happy."

I swallowed the lump that was in my throat as I backed up until I met the wall. The world started to spin around me and I thought that I was going to pass out. That's why the box was in her room. They must've sent her the box so she would kill herself and it would look like suicide. Now they wanted me to do it, just so the name of Yevon would live on unscathed. I started to pant and I felt the gun slipping out of my grasp.

"Get a move on and make up your mind! I'm certainly not getting any younger!" I heard Zoram say to me, but he sounded so far away. My mind was a tangled mess and I wasn't sure what to do. Kill my wife? She and Ariana were the two most important things in my life. I would never be able to live with myself. "Oh, by the way, if you kill yourself to try to get out of it, I will kill your little brat and make your wife watch. Then I'll probably kill her for the hell of it anyway. You can't win."

"What do you get out it?" I asked, trying not to stutter over my words from anger. "This is your game, I get that. You set it up, you move the pieces, then what? What's in it for you?"

"What isn't?" He shot back as he threw his hands up in the air. "I'm next in line. Since there isn't a Praetor anymore, thanks to me, the High Summoner is in charge. Get rid of the High Summoner, and I'm in charge, understand? Yevon will live on again. Your wife is the High Summoner; someone who is supposed to live up to the name of Yevon! She should be in Bevelle giving speeches about the wonders of Yevon, yet she married an idiot and lives in the middle of nowhere! Yevon is the one thing that held this world together for thousands of years, and now the world is crumbling. Do you honestly think that we can live on with the 'treaty' that was made between New Yevon, the Youth League, and the Machine Faction? It's just a false piece of paper that three young men put together that means nothing! Oh yeah, and one of them is an Al Bhed! How are we supposed to live in the same world as people who use forbidden machina?"

"Get a grip," Yuna snapped at him as her hands clenched into fists and tried to lunge at him. Again, the guards held her in her spot. "You're the only one who feels this way!"

"You think so?" He put his arms out and pointed to the other guards that were in the room. "What do you think their opinion is on this entire circumstance? Why would they be pointing their guns at your husband and your child if they believed in what you did?"

"You have the power right now," she said, her eyes burning as she spoke. "People are driven by fear, and right now, you have fear in the palm of your hand. I have defeated Yunalesca, Yu Yevon, and Sin; the three largest threats that have ever reigned on Spira, so let me tell you something… I am not afraid of you!"

"Hmm. Let me see what I can do about that," he replied calmly and walked over to the guard that held Ariana. Before anyone could blink an eye, he grabbed her and held her upside down by her feet. Without thinking, I grabbed the bars, getting electrocuted. In the year that she had existed, I have never heard her scream like that and it terrified me more than anything.

The tears that Yuna had clearly been holding in finally escaped and I could see them streaming down her face as she struggled against the guards' grasp. Shaking my hands to regain some feeling in them again, I felt tears of my own form in my eyes, but I shook them away. I hated to cry; crying reminded me of Jecht. I didn't want to think about him, therefore I hadn't cried since he died, but this was just too much.

"When you fought Yunalesca, Yu Yevon, and Sin, you had the Aeons and your guardians to protect you," he shouted over Ari's cries. "Look at your surroundings now, Lady Yuna, you're alone!"

"Hold it right there, Zoram!"

Yuna and I looked up to see Baralai, Paine, Gippal, and Rikku hanging from the ceiling by ropes. I have no idea how the hell they got there, but I didn't care. Zoram watched as they slid down the ropes, knocking down guards as they landed.

"Ah, Baralai," Zoram stated calmly, turning Ariana right side up again and using his other hand to wave to the ex-praetor. She had horror in her eyes and tried to squirm out of Zoram's grasp, but it was no use. He held on to her tightly, and by the pained look on her face, he wasn't being gentle about it. "It's been a while."

"Yeah, you were in charge of the insubordination, in case you forgot by now," Baralai snapped, causing Zoram to laugh.

"Ha, laugh at this!" Rikku yelled, dressed in her gunner dressphere, shooting one of the guards. "That's what you get for attacking my cousin, you psycho!"

That was enough for the other guards to charge at the four of them and they began to attack them and destroy them one by one. They were enough of a distraction to throw everyone off guard, so Yuna elbowed both guards that were holding her, then kicked them both in the groin to knock them down in an immense amount of pain. It was perhaps the most feminine way to knock a guy down, but it worked, so I wasn't going to say anything about it.

Yuna started to make her way toward Zoram, knocking out guards on her way. I aimed my gun at Zoram, but I knew that if I pulled the trigger, I would kill Zoram and he would drop Ariana, or I would accidentally hit her. Before I could make up my mind, he grabbed his gun back out and put it right against Ariana's head.

"Nobody move!" He shouted and everyone obeyed. The room became silent, the only sounds from Ari's cries and everyone else panting. I aimed my gun and closed my eyes. "One more move and I'll kill her right now."

"Tidus!" She shouted as she rushed toward Zoram and I heard a gunshot.

I opened my eyes and panted as I dropped the gun I was holding. I looked around to see what had happened and through my blurred vision, I could see Paine, Baralai, Gippal, and Rikku fighting off the last of the soldiers, and Yuna was able to grab Ariana just in time. She was consoling the baby as she held her close to her chest, her tears falling down her face.

Wiping the sweat out of my eyes, I saw Zoram on the ground, surrounded in a puddle of his own blood. My aim was perfect and the bullet went straight through his heart. I was still shaking when everyone walked closer to the jail cell I was in, and no one knew what to say.

"Sorry we were late," Gippal quipped with a half smile, breaking the silence. Yuna and I glared at his attempt at humor for we weren't in the mood for it, but he could tell that we were both eternally grateful that they _did_ show up. They had impeccable timing.

"How did you know about this place, Baralai?" Yuna asked as she kissed Ari on the top of her head several times.

"Like I told Tidus, I know every inch of Bevelle," Baralai stated with a nod. "This place used to be the secret headquarters for the Maesters. It guards against pyreflies, so they would be able to have their meetings without being disturbed by them. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that this would be the best place to keep Yuna secret."

"Can you get me out of here?" I managed to squeak out as Baralai looked at the electric bars. They were about twelve feet high and three inches apart, so unless we turned off the charge, there was no way I was going to be able to get out. "They used a key to get me in here."

Rikku, who was now in her Thief dressphere, picked up the gun that Zoram was going to use on Ari and aimed it directly at the lock. The gunshot elicited more screams out of the baby, but it managed to open the lock and the door opened. "There ya go!"

"What did they teach you at Home?" Paine asked as Rikku smiled.

I ran out of the cell and toward my wife and child. I held them both as close to me as possible without crushing either of them, then passionately kissed Yuna in front of everyone; I didn't care.

"I thought I lost you," she whispered as she buried her head in my chest.

"You never will," I whispered back and kissed her on her forehead.

"Whoo, it's getting hot in here," Rikku joked as she started to fan herself off with her hands. "Come on, you two lovebirds, let's get the hell out of here."

"Agreed," Baralai said and put his arm around Paine's waist. "I don't think I want to come back to Bevelle for a while."

"And they wonder why I won't live here?" Yuna said with a small laugh. "I love Besaid. Less crazies."

"Let's go home," I stated. Everyone nodded and we all walked through the Temple to the Rekrfeht outside.


	11. Epilogue

**May 3rd, 2006. Much like the previous chapter, I had this one about 80 written since June, but I finished it up today. It was actually rather difficult for me to finish it up knowing that the sequel to this fic, _The Little Voice,_ has already been partly posted. I wanted to wait on it, but alas, I didn't. I really hope you enjoyed this fic, I had a lot of fun writing it, and I'm quite sad that it's finished now. I also hope that you continue to read the series, for _The Little Voice_ is the final 'chapter' in it. It is much darker than the first three, the darkest project I have ever taken on actually, but it is fun to write Tidus in such a different way. (Plus, there is a LOT of foreshadowing from this fic that leads to _The Little Voice!_) **

**Again, thank you so much for reading my work!**

* * *

**Epilogue **

I rested my head against my arms as I lay down in the grass. I have never been happier than I was at that moment. Hell, my entire family was alive and relaxing outside on a beautiful summer day at our home in Besaid. What could be better? Well, okay, _I_ was relaxing and Yuna was trying to get Ari to go into the little pool that we bought for her. Ari was screaming and grabbing at Yuna's clothes in protest.

"I don't think she likes it, Yuna," I said as Yuna stood up and put Ariana on her hip. "You might as well give up."

"She loves water!" She exclaimed and walked over to me. "Well, she usually does anyway. I just don't understand why she won't go into a pool. It's like a bathtub, only bigger and outside."

"And _pink_," I mentioned with a smile.

"You're never gonna let me live that down, are you?" She asked as I shook my head and widened my smile. "I promise that I won't do that for her birthday next year."

"You can't promise that," I joked as she sat down next to me and put Ari on my chest. She squealed, crawled toward my face, and put her tiny fingers on my cheeks. "Hello to you as well, sweetie."

"Maybe only a little pink. Can I do that?" She asked and I had to smile at her. I picked Ari up off of my chest, sat up, and placed her on the ground. "I _promise _that I'll add different colors in there as well. It won't be solid pink. Maybe it'll be light pink, fushia, maroon, red…"

"Very funny," I stated, rolling my eyes. I knew she was kidding. At least, I hoped she was. I looked down at Ariana to see her pulling up pieces of grass in her fists. My eyes opened wide and I grabbed her hands to take the grass out of it. "Oh no, no, no! Ari, don't do that! Daddy likes the grass when it's connected to the ground!"

Yuna smiled at me and gave me a quick peck on the lips. "I'm so glad that we're home. I honestly didn't think we'd get here as a solid family."

"Did you honestly think I would've shot you?" I asked her in disbelief. She shook her head and rubbed the baby's back as she crawled closer to her. "I wasn't going to let anything happen to either of my girls. You're all I have."

"I hate Bevelle," she stated with an exhale. "Every time I happen to go there, it only ends in trouble. I mean, I get possessed or almost killed. But you're always there to bring me to safety."

"I'm your knight in blue jeans and a tee shirt," I stated, looking what I was wearing. 'Shining armor' didn't exactly cover it. She was amused though, so I guess I succeeded.

"I'm much happier here," she added and looked around.

"Me too," I agreed. "It's kind of hard to practice my blitz skills when there isn't a lot of water around. An island is a nice place to practice blitz."

"Yeah, because it's surrounded by water." Heh, leave it to Yuna to point out the obvious and make me look stupid. Oh well, she was just trying to keep me on my toes. "I'm glad I gave the recommendation to Paine and Baralai."

I picked up Ariana before she could wander too far and placed her in my lap before I continued speaking. "What recommendation? Living in Besaid?"

"Yeah. I mean, not only will they love it here, but I'm sure they'll be able to babysit a lot." I looked at her to notice her hidden meaning that was buried deeply in her statement.

I laughed at her and pulled her close to me. "Oh really? What do you mean by that?"

"Nothing," she replied coyly as she tilted her head up and kissed me on the lips. "It's just that we haven't had a lot of alone time since Ari was born and I kind of miss it. Okay, I miss it a lot."

"I'm just worried that Ari won't trust anyone since the last people she 'trusted' held her upside down and put a gun to her head." Yuna's face instantly fell and she put her head back down.

"Please, let's bring that up whenever possible," she said, the sarcasm dripping off her voice like water from a melting icicle. "I think she'll be fine. I mean, she knows Paine and Baralai. I don't think Zoram will cause her any permanent damage."

"The only person that will is Rikku," I quipped, causing Yuna to giggle. I'm glad I was able to cheer her up. "I love your cousin to death, but the second I knocked on her door and she answered it wearing lingerie…"

"What!" Yuna exclaimed through fits of giggles. "Not that I couldn't see her doing that, but when did this happen?"

"The last time she wanted to watch Ari," I informed her as I shuddered at the memory. "I just hope that I didn't walk in on her and Gippal doing anything. Dear Yunalesca."

"I also remember how long it took Wakka to convince Vidina that it wasn't right to scream whenever he sees Rikku," Yuna added, laughing even harder. I could see the tears brimming in her eyes from laughter, which always causes me to laugh. "'Vidina, that's not right, ya?'"

I love when Yuna tries to impersonate Wakka—it is the funniest thing in Spira. She never manages to get the accent down pat, but always adds a lot of 'ya's' and 'ya knows' at the end of sentences, resulting in her thinking that she does it perfectly. "Yeah, something like that." I chuckled and gave her shoulders a tight squeeze. "I really hope that Rikku doesn't teach that to Ari as well though. Maybe something a little more sane."

"Don't get your hopes up," she stated, calming down her laugher. After a few minutes of her simply resting her head against my shoulder, she inhaled then slowly exhaled. "Tidus," she began as I looked down at her in question.

"What is it?" I asked, picking up Ari and placing her in my lap.

The look on her face had a trace of worry in it even though she was smiling, so that caused me to be concerned at what she was going to say. "Do you think Spira will ever be completely danger-free?"

"Heh, good question," I stated with a shrug of my shoulders. I didn't know the answer to that question, but then again, no one could accurately answer it. "Who knows, ya know? I mean, we all thought that danger would end after the defeat of Sin."

"It's like, the bad keeps coming back and getting stronger." She looked off toward the horizon, the wind gently whipping her hair. Brushing it out of her face, she chuckled. "I don't know why I'm even thinking this way, but I never want to be so nonchalant about something like this again."

"Oh, I see where you're going with this," I said with a rather large grin. "Go on, say it."

"Say what?" She blushed, so I knew I hit it right on the dot. "I'm just babbling incoherently, don't listen to me."

"No, you're thinking something." I gave her a slight push and now she started to giggle. Yuna can't ever lie to me; she giggles. It's a definite giveaway. "Don't keep it inside! Say it!"

"All right!" She exclaimed in defeat. She looked away from me and mumbled something so quietly that I couldn't hear her.

I chuckled as I put my hand up to my ear and leaned in closer to her. "I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you. It sounded like, 'mmmmm hmm hmmm hmm.' What was that?" She mumbled the same thing again so I gave her a stern look. "Come on, Yuna. I can't hear you!"

"I said that you were right about the entire situation and I should've listened to you!" She cried, throwing her hands up in the air.

"Thank you," I replied with a cocky smile. I crossed my arms across my chest then leaned over and kissed her. "Besides the fact that you just stated the obvious, I know you were only looking out for the well being of our family."

"I'm waiting for you to say, 'but I was still right.'" She made another face at me as she tapped me on the nose with one of her fingers.

"Well, I was," I said with another proud smile. "Okay, I'm done bragging now. I seriously wish you would've told me, but I'm over it, really. Everything worked out fine, but there is one thing that I do have to ask."

She blinked at me and then muttered, "What?"

"You weren't really going to go off and marry some old priest, were you?" I was serious, but I still managed to smile and make a joke out of it.

"I… wasn't sure what I was going to do, to be honest with you." She rested against me and tucked her forehead against my neck. "I guess that's the reason why I didn't tell you about it for so long; I was trying to figure everything out in my mind. You know, the solution that would be the less harmful and keep everyone alive. It's just, all the letters threatening your life and Ari's… I couldn't have anything happen to either of you." With a small clicking sound with her tongue, she sat up and hugged her knees. "I didn't want to marry him, if that's what you're asking. I know that if I was to do so, he would've just killed me so he could be in charge."

"Bastard," I mumbled under my breath before reaching out and holding her again. "Trying to kill my beautiful wife."

"Well, he was evil," she said, glancing back at me. "Not to mention creepy. Some of the letters that he wrote were just… well, evil and creepy. I think we should have a bonfire later and get rid of them all."

Pasting on a smile, I said, "ooh! I think we have marshmallows!" She chuckled at me and gave me a gentle shove. "In all seriousness, Yuna, I do understand where you were coming from, really. Acting too rash on it could've resulted in one of us getting killed."

Yuna brushed Ari's hair with her fingers and then gave a small nod. "Yeah, but I shouldn't have waited so long. I was too careless and tried to ignore the problem, hoping that it would've just gone away. I don't want to be that way next time. I want to be ready. And not get shot."

Kissing her on the top of the head, I sighed. "I hope there isn't a 'next time,' but if there is, we'll handle it."

"Yeah," she whispered, resting her head against my shoulder again and shutting her eyes. "We'll be all right."

Letting a small smile appear on my face, I rested my cheek against her hair and said, "Yeah. We will be."


End file.
